The Adventures of a Texan Tumbleweed
by Jack E. Peace
Summary: The movie told in Pepper's POV, with a few changes to make it more to my liking. :) I hope everyone else enjoys it as well. (Completed)
1. Texan Tumbleweed

Disclaimer: None of the characters from the movie belong to me. 

A/N: The story that you are about to read is told in the point of view of one of survivors of a tragedy that befell a group of five youths. Sorry, I just felt like doing that. Anyway, this story is told in Pepper's POV; it follows after the short story _Life for Rent,_ which explains how Pepper hitched a ride with Erin and the others so I won't go through all that again. I hope everyone reviews and enjoys. 

Chapter One 

Texan Tumbleweed 

The dry, Texas heat whipped through the van through the open front windows, creating little breeze and making the car seem like an oven. I was sweating through my halter top and skirt but I wasn't the only one; Andy was covered with a thin sheen of sweat that glistened off his tan skin and managed to make him look attractive. I doubt that dry wind had the same effect on my matted and tangled hair. If the heat had any undesirable effect, however, Andy didn't seem to mind since Andy had his arm around my shoulder, a gesture I didn't mind despite the fact that it made the temperature a little bit more unbearable. 

No one complained about the heat away as Kemper, who owned the van, piloted it down the cracked and deserted Texas highway. The gnarled trees that hung over the side of the road were the same color as the dry grass that weaved in the wind, surviving in spite of the lack of rainfall and oven-like heat. The undergrowth was the only thing we had passed since we had left El Paso a handful of hours ago; nothing but trees and heat. 

"Kemp," moaned Erin from the front, shifting her weight in the seat to become more comfortable. "Can you turn on the A/C a little higher?" 

Kemper reached over to the knobs that controlled the almost non-existent air conditioner and radio, which was blaring out some song about free birds by a guy I'd never heard of; Erin and the others were heading to Dallas to go to his concert. He flicked one of the knobs and the air vents whined for a moment before sputtering and going silent again. 

"Sorry babe." Kemper said to Erin, who rolled her window down a little more and stuck her head outside, hair whipping out from beneath the white cowboy hat she was wearing. 

The increase in the dry wind made the back of the van even more uncomfortable but I didn't say anything; even though I had grown up in Texas, I had never managed to get used to the heat. That was probably due to the fact that I had lived in the Lone Star State for only six years before my family moved up north, then back to the south then up north again. It was hard to get used to something when you were nothing more then a tumbleweed. 

"Kemper look." Erin commanded and gestured out the window. We all turned to see where she was pointing and saw a stream, partly concealed by the tangled branches of the nondescript trees. The water rippled slightly in the breeze, looking clear, cool and inviting. 

"We could stop there for a while, get out of the heat." Erin continued, looking imploringly at her boyfriend. "We could still make it to concert in time." 

Morgan, the college boy who was often quiet unless he had something pointless to say, spoke up from where he sat on a beanbag, rolling a joint. "I feel like I'm baking to death back here." He remarked and Andy nodded in agreement, wiping his hand across his forehead to brush the sweat out of his eyes. 

Kemper looked indecisive as I watched his face through the rearview mirror and I prayed that he would decide to pull over and spend a couple of hours near to cold waters. I still didn't know them well enough to offer my two cents in so I remained silent, the heat baking against my skin and imagined what the stream would feel like. 

Erin made a puppy dog face at her boyfriend and he smiled, pulling the van off the road and into the dry grass, parking a few yards away from the stream. The tires churned up dust, which blanketed the windshield and made it difficult to see through the glass; the dust, which floated through the windows before Erin and Kemper could roll them up, made my nose itch and I sneezed. Andy chuckled lightly as I sneezed again, rubbing my nose with the heel of my hand. 

Kemper shut off the van and listened to it idle as he looked over at Erin. "Planning on swimming in your clothes?" He questioned and didn't seem like he minded that idea. 

"I bought these cute swimsuits down in Mexico." She informed him, sounding a little upset and I wondered if something happened down in Mexico between the two of them that I didn't know about. She turned around to face me. "You can borrow one too, Pepper." 

I smiled. I liked Erin, and, even though we had only known each other since yesterday, I already considered her one of the best friends I'd ever had; moving around didn't allow you a lot of time to get to know someone. 

Erin opened the front door and got out of the van; since I was closet to the sliding door, I reached over and slid the door across the track and hopped out. Andy followed after me and I tried to act like I didn't notice the way he stared at my ass as I jogged after Erin, who was heading for the back of the van. Andy hadn't bothered to hide the fact that he thought I was one of the hottest women in Texas but he hadn't done anything about it either. I hated guys that beat around the bush that way. 

Kemper unlocked the trunk of his massive, rust colored van and Erin yanked her suitcase out, dropping it onto the dirt ground and kneeling in front of it. I knelt down beside her as Kemper headed back toward where Andy and Morgan were standing, gazing toward the stream. Erin unzipped her suitcase and flipped the top of it open; the mention of Mexico had drastically changed her mood and not for the better. 

As Erin rummaged through her neatly folded clothes and I peered at her, trying to read the expression on her tanned face. "Is everything all right?" I questioned when I couldn't figure out what emotions played on her features. 

Erin looked up and shrugged. "It's complicated." She said and pulled out two swimsuits: one white the other a violet, both decorated with flowers. She debated for a moment then handed the violet colored one to me, keeping the white for herself. "It's just that, sometimes you think you know someone then other times, you're not so sure." 

I nodded in agreement. "I know exactly what you mean." Or, at least I hoped I did. I figured she was talking about Kemper and something that he had done in Mexico but I didn't want to ask, in case she thought I was prying. 

We stood and headed toward the woods that flanked the stream to change into our suits, away from the leering eyes of the boys, who were heading lazily down toward the water. "So," I decided to change the subject. "How long have you and Kemper been going out?" I didn't know if the mention of Kemper would exactly change the subject but it was worth a short. 

"Almost four years." Erin answered, holding aside a branch as we headed deeper into the woods. "We want to get married but he still hasn't gotten me a ring." 

Was that where the animosity between them was coming from? I didn't say what I thought, however, as we reached a thick grove of trees that would provide the perfect place to change. As I headed behind a tree I asked, "So, why did you go to Mexico?" I had been there only once, when I'd had the intentions of joining the Peace Core a couple of weeks ago. 

"Kemper had a few weeks off from work and so did the rest of us, so we thought it would be a fun little summer trip." Erin answered from behind her own tree. "Plus we had tickets to the Skynyrd concert." 

I pulled my swimsuit over my head and retrieved my top and skirt, not bothering to keep them from becoming balled and wrinkled; the heat had already done that. "I've been to Mexico; it definitely wasn't my favorite place." I admitted as I came out from behind the tree. 

Erin emerged seconds later, pulling her long, thick hair behind her shoulders in a ponytail. "I know what you mean." She said as we started back toward the stream. "It wasn't at all how I imagined it, especially with Kemper stoned and drunk most of the time; not at all what I'd had in mind." 

I wanted to ask her what she'd had in mind but she looked upset enough all ready. We dropped our clothes on top of her suitcase on our way down to the water; Morgan was sitting on a uprooted tree trunk, watching as Kemper and Andy dragged something out of the leafy foliage. They had already taken their shirts off in preparation for swimming. 

I stepped closer toward them to see what they could possibly be retrieving and saw that they were pulling out two dusty but inflated inner tubes. Who would leave their inner tubes just laying on the side of the bank? I looked around for more signs that there was someone else around but couldn't find any. 

"There's also a rope tied to a tree." Andy said once they had laid the inner tubes out on the sandy bank. "I guess someone's been here recently." 

Andy tossed the two tubes into the water and then wadded in after them, driving beneath the surface before popping back up seconds later. "Water's cold." He admitted, shivering a little and climbing onto one of the inner tubes. 

I stuck one foot in the water and saw that he was right; despite the heat of the day, the water was almost too cold for my liking. "C'mon Pepper." Andy teased from where he lay, sprawled out across the tube. He grinned and splashed a little water in my direction. 

Gingerly, I pulled the other inner tube toward me and got onto it, trying to stay as dry as possible; I shivered as the water splashed onto my back, giving me goose bumps. 

On the bank, it was clear that Morgan had no intention of getting into the water and Erin looked as though she was debating coming in as well. Kemper didn't let her decide for long because he lifted her off her feet and carry her toward the bank. "Kemper! Don't you dare!" Erin cried, though there was a smile on her face as she gamely struggled to get away from her boyfriend. 

Kemper ignored her and tossed her into the water, jumping in seconds after her. Erin's head broke the surface and she didn't look too pleased. "God, it's freezing!" She remarked, hugging herself as she treaded water. Despite the icy temperature of the water, however, none of us made any move to get out and back into the hot Texas sun. 

Kemper and Erin joked around with each other for a while, splashing and try to dunk one another; it seemed to me that whatever had made Erin so upset earlier didn't mean anything now. After a while, Kemper and Erin decided to swing off the rope Andy had found earlier and into the water; I decided to pass, I was just happily dry on my inner tube. 

Andy paddled his inner tube in my direction but I tried to act like I wasn't interested, looking over at Kemper, who was already swinging over the stream. I finally looked over at him when he tickled my foot to get my attention. "What?" I questioned, trying not to smile at his boyish gesture. 

With a smile, Andy said, "So, where're you headed?" It seemed like he had wanted to say something else, but those were the words that came out of his mouth. 

"Wherever." I answered. "No where in particular." Ever since I'd left home a couple of years ago, I really hadn't been going anywhere particular, resuming my tumbleweed status. 

"You could always come to Dallas." Andy said, trying to sound nonchalant and uninterested. "Hang out with me...and everyone else." He added with a shrug. 

I smiled and shrugged as well. "Maybe." I answered lightly, trying to act just as uninterested as he was and doing a much better job of it. 

Andy nodded once. "Yeah, that's cool." He said, looking around for a minute before gazing by in my direction. "You know, you're really hot." He muttered, looking flustered and almost embarrassed at having said those words aloud. 

I grinned; it wasn't the first time I'd heard those words but this was the first time I had ever grinned upon hearing them. Upon first glance, Andy appeared to be a tough, ladies-man without a care in the world but I was starting to see him in a different light. I leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips, pulling away before he could even return the gesture. 

Andy smiled and rolled his eyes, as though it didn't bother him to be teased. I smiled to myself as I gazed off into the woods, admiring the way the sun filtered through the tangled, leafy tree branches. For a moment, I thought I saw someone, or something, peering through the undergrowth but the image was gone before I could tell for sure. At the moment, however, it didn't really bother me; I was enjoying the water, the heat and the company too much. 


	2. Unexpected Events

Chapter Two 

Unexpected Events

It was Morgan and his constant reminding about the concert in Dallas that finally got us out of the stream and heading back toward the van. The heat dried the water off our bathing suits as Erin and I headed back toward the woods to change, shivering despite the heat. 

"So," Erin began with the hint of a smile on her features. "I saw you and Andy together." 

I smiled and felt like I was back in high school, crushing over a guy and gossiping about it with my best girlfriends. "Well...you know, I've only known him for a couple of hours." I answered from behind a tree as I pulled by nearly dry suit over my head and dropped it to the ground. 

By the time Erin and I returned to the van, Andy and Morgan were already inside and Kemper was waiting impatiently beside Erin's suitcase, which was still flipped open the way she had left it. "Erin, hurry up, we're gonna be late." He prodded as she knelt in front of the suitcase. 

I got down beside her and tried to help Erin pack her stuff back up; she smiled appreciatively but repacked everything herself, zipping the suitcase back up and tossing it into the back of the van. 

I dropped down next to Andy in the backseat of the van and wasn't surprised when he wrapped his arms around my waist and started kissing me as soon as I sat down. I returned the kiss, running my fingers along his tanned skin and tight muscles. Morgan mumbled something but I didn't pay any attention to what he was saying; Andy was the only thing I was concentrating on. 

In the front seat, Erin pushed another cassette tape into the deck and a guitar riff echoed through the van. Andy ran his hands down my thighs as we continued to kiss and I let him, enjoying the way his fingers felt against my still slightly damp skin. 

"Big wheels keep on turning." Erin sang from the front seat, giving her words a false accent in better hopes of matching the male singer's words. If you asked me, it made the whole thing sound even worse. 

Morgan seemed to think so too. "Can somebody please make her stop singing?" He looked over at Andy and I, but saw that we would be of no help in his plight to get Erin to stop butchering the song. 

"Carry me home to see my kin." Erin continued, louder now to make Morgan suffer more then he always was. 

"I think you have a beautiful voice baby." Kemper told her and smiled. 

"Thank you." Erin smiled back. 

Andy and I remained neutral on the whole subject, preferring love over war. Finally, I pulled away from him, taking deep breaths as I smiled at him. "Can you believe that we didn't even know each other yesterday?" I questioned, trying to make sense of it myself. The world would be happier place if everyone felt the way I felt about Andy right that minute after only just meeting someone, if you asked me. 

"I know," Andy agreed huskily, pulling me to him again. "It's just amazing." He started kissing my neck before kissing my lips again, running his fingers through my hair. 

Morgan cleared his throat. "You know what else is amazing?" He waited for an answer. Neither of us were prepared to give him one. "Is there a pause? Or a half time?" He questioned and finally Andy turned to glare at him, looking like he was ready to throw Morgan out onto the road. "The fact that seventeen thousand Americans each day are effected with a sexually transmitted disease and two thirds of them are just about your age." He smiled innocently. 

Where did he come up with that stuff? But, maybe he had a point; I scooted away from Andy, straightening my skirt and wondering how it was possible for one person to kill a mood so fast. 

Erin rolled down the window a little farther, looking slightly pale as she rummaged through the tapes in a box on her lap; she pulled one out and studied it. "Oh baby, they gotta play 'Free bird.'" She said and looked over at Kemper. That was the song we had been listening to earlier and Erin had informed everyone in the van, whether they cared or not, that it was her favorite song and always would be. 

Andy let his fingers trail down my leg lightly and I forget all about what Morgan had said, I turned to kiss him again. Kemper assured Erin that they'd play her song because the tickets had been so expensive. I was slightly surprised when Andy pulled away from me and turned his head in Kemper's direction. "Hey Kemp, can you do something about the A/C back here? I'm melting." He snapped, wiping sweat off his forehead again. 

Kemper banged against a miniature fan that had somehow been secured to the dashboard and when nothing happened he said, "No." 

In high spirits, despite the heat, both Andy and I laughed and even Erin rolled her eyes. I guess it's just something about being young, with your friends, having a great time and just happy to be alive that makes every situation small in the scheme of things. 

"But," Kemper continued, "If you and Pepper get too hot, you can always take your clothes off." 

I giggled, only because I wasn't sure of what else to do; Kemper did have an interesting sense of humor. Andy glared at him. "You'd like that wouldn't you?" It couldn't tell if he was really mad or not, which was sort of endearing. 

"You are such a perv." Erin chastised before she turned around to face me. "Don't listen to him Pepper." She told me. 

"Why not?" I questioned. "I think he's funny." I smiled slightly and snuggled closer to Andy. 

Kemper looked at Erin and gave an '_see, someone thinks I'm funny' _look and Erin rolled her eyes. "That's 'cause she's only known you for nineteen hours." She snapped at him and turned to look at me again. "I've lived with him for three years and trust me, he's not funny." 

I laughed again, though inside I was yearning for the sort of loving romance Erin and Kemper seemed to have. They loved each other, in spite of whatever happened in Mexico and had happened in the past three years; love like that was hard to find. Andy leaned over to whisper someone to Morgan the other boy smiled and they both looked over at the donkey shaped piñata that they had brought back from Mexico with them; I had asked Andy earlier why they had bothered to bring back such a silly souvenir and he had told me that it wasn't just any souvenir. It was filled with pot and only Erin didn't know about the real reason they had gone down to Mexico. 

As Morgan started to role another joint, I pulled a plastic jar of bubbles out of my backpack and blew some at Andy, who smiled and swatted them away. Bubbles had always been one of my favorite things when I was a kid and that was one thing that hadn't changed; something about bubbles, who they were just so light and free, seemed to brighten up every mood. I blew some in Erin's direction, hoping to brighten up her mood but the bubbles popped before they could reach her. 

Morgan took a drag on the joint and smiled happily; he was already stoned but that didn't seem to keep him from puffing again. After a minute, he passed the joint up to Kemper, who took a drag and coughed, eyes watering. "Erin." He said and handed the joint in her direction. 

Erin waved her hand dismissively and stuck her head out the window, holding onto her cowboy hat to keep it from blowing off. "No thank you, I'm nauseous." She told him. Come to think of it, she had been looking rather pale lately, but I had never seen her smoke or take a drink since I had known her. Which, granted, wasn't very long. 

"Montezuma's revenge." Morgan spoke up from the back. I was interested in who Montezuma was, since I had never heard of him, but Andy had other things in mind that took _my _mind off Montezuma and his revenge. "I was like, Erin don't drink the water down there." 

"I didn't." Erin snapped, clearly fed up with Morgan. I had noticed they didn't get along very well and Andy said that was because, when she and Kemper had first started going out, Morgan had gotten her drunk and tried to sleep with her. Kemper had forgiven Morgan after a couple of months but Erin clearly never had; I understood where she was coming from, it wasn't a nice feeling to be taken advantage of. 

Kemper smiled. "And she didn't drink the tequila. Didn't drink the weed," he corrected himself, "Smoke the weed." Clearly he had been smoking the weed too much. 

I smiled slightly at his slip up and blew more bubbles into the van, watching them float through the dry air only to pop seconds later. 

Erin wrinkled her nose. "Well, maybe I didn't go to Mexico to watch you get shit faced for four days." She snapped and suddenly was upset at Kemper instead of Morgan. 

"Baby, that is what you do in Mexico." Kemper defended. "What did you expect?" 

"Well, maybe a tear-cut diamond ring," Her frown turned into a coy smile. "That goes right here," she held up her hand, "on my beautiful little finger." 

The marriage thing again. I wondered if Kemper really wanted to get married as much as Erin thought he did. 

"We're gonna get you that ring someday." Maybe he did want to marry her as much as she wanted to marry him. 

Erin didn't look convinced. "I've heard that one before." She snapped and turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Kemper held the joint out to her again. "Peace offering." He said with a smile. 

Erin looked at him and a sly smile formed at the corners of her lips; she took the joint, raised it to her mouth and then flicked it out the window. "Oops." She said with faux innocence and I laughed, both at the look on her face and the look on Kemper's. He looked too surprised to be really upset. 

"That was not cool." He remarked and Morgan looked over at him with a look of surprise on his face. 

"Guys, relax." Morgan said, words coming out slow before of his current state. "It's not like we don't have two pounds of-" Andy pulled away from me so fast that I nearly fell off the seat and slammed his fist into Morgan's shoulder, stopping the boy from finishing his sentence. Andy had made it perfectly clear to me earlier that if Erin found out that they had smuggled pot across the border, the out come wouldn't be pleasant. 

I looked over at Erin and it was clear that she'd heard exactly what Morgan was planning on saying. "What did you say?" She snapped. Morgan shook his head, trying to look lost and confused. "Two pounds of pot? Does that refresh your memory?" 

Kemper looked panicked. "Baby, don't listen to me." He said, trying to sound soothing and in control. "He's baked and stupid." He spat the last words at Morgan, who cringed slightly, rubbing his arm where Andy had hit him. I wrapped my arms around Andy's shoulders and tried to get his attention on me once again and leave the fighting to the others but he was too focused on what Erin was going to do. 

"Baby," Erin said firmly. "Please tell me that we did not go to Mexico to buy pot." She glared at him. 

I looked over at Kemper. It was like watching a tennis match. "We did not go to Mexico to buy pot." He repeated. Even though he was doing to it to keep Erin from getting more pissed off then she already was, his lying just reaffirmed my idea that all guys were liars, no matter what they said. Erin continued to glare at him. "C'mon, baby, I am not a dope smuggler." Erin smiled slightly, looking reassured and I felt bad for her; she was so in love with him that she would believe anything he said and he was taking advantage of that fact. Kemper smiled as well. "Tell me how much you love me." 

Erin held up her thumb and index finger, so close they were almost touching. "This much." She told me. 

I laughed and Andy joined in too, those his laughter sounded a little forced, as though he wanted desperately to get back into the mood he had been in earlier. Kemper held up the same fingers, though his were held farther apart. "How 'bout this much?" He questioned. 

Erin wrinkled her nose. "No. That's it, that's it." She said and held up her hands and shrugged her shoulders. 

"Give me a kiss." Kemper commanded and Erin leaned over and kissed him. I smiled, glad to see that their differences had been put aside for the time being; I guess at times, people who be right to call me a hippy or free-spirited because I was happy when other people were happy and preferred love to war. Not that I'd make signs that proclaimed these facts but for a philosophy in the back of a van, it wasn't too shabby. 

I saw the girl walking in the middle of the road before anyone else, but Erin was the first to find her voice and shout out a warning to Kemper. He slammed on the breaks just in time and swerved to avoid running the girl over, who didn't even flinch when the van hurtled past her. I was nearly thrown forward, into the back of Erin's seat, by the sudden stop and would have been if Andy hadn't been holding onto my shoulders. 

"You almost hit her!" I cried and Andy glared at me. He seemed to believe that I had misplaced the blame in the situation. 

"What was she doing walking in the middle of the road?" He snapped I saw he was more shaken then upset. 

When Kemper had swerved to avoid the girl, the piñata filled with pot had broken open and now Morgan was scrambling to shove it all back inside; Erin turned around to look at the girl, who was still heading down the road, and saw the bags before he could hide them again. She looked at Kemper, hurt and betrayal showing in her eyes. "Asshole." She whispered. 

Wordlessly, Kemper backed the van up until we were alongside the girl again. I peeked out the window and watched her; she was moving slowly and she didn't have any shoes on. Her feet were bloody and cut but she didn't seem to care as she kept walking. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Erin called out the window. There was no response. 

I saw that the girl was crying, her lips were chapped and her face was streaked with dirt and tears. But what bothered me the most were her eyes: how they seemed to look so blank, so lifeless. "Dude, that is a bad acid trip right there." Morgan mumbled. 

I shook my head; not everything had to do with drugs. She could have been raped, or beaten, or lost; she looked so young, so lost, so dead. Erin told Kemper to stop the car and he did so; she jumped out of the van and I followed after her. As we got closer to the girl, I saw that she was mumbling something to herself. "Gotta get away. I've gotta get away." She was repeating over and over again. The sight of her jerked my heart; what happened to his poor girl? 

Erin looked over at me. "We can't leave her out here like this." She said and I nodded. The girl stopped walking only when Erin and I took hold of her arms and steered her back toward the van. There was something sticky on her wrist but I couldn't tell what it was; I wiped my hand on my skirt. 

"It's okay man." I assured her. 

"We'll give you a ride." Erin added. "Wherever you wanna go." 

The girl allowed us to herd back toward the van. "I just wanna go home." She whimpered, fresh tears cutting lines through the dirt on her face. 

"Okay." Erin agreed. "We can take you home." 

Andy was waiting by the door when we returned with the girl and helped her inside and onto the backseat. I got inside and pulled the door shut behind him; I moved to sit next to her but Andy grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into his lap, where he was sitting with his back against Erin's seat. "She could be dangerous." He whispered in my ear and I realized he was right. There was no telling how long that girl had been wandering around out there and the heat does strange things to people. 

The girl stared down at her feet with her lifeless eyes and started to cry again; I wondered what she was really seeing and was certain that I didn't want to know. Whatever had happened to this poor girl was bad and I prayed that I never had to experience something like it. 

Erin turned in her seat. "So, what's your name?" She questioned, a friendly smile on her face. If anyone could get through to this girl, it would be Erin, who seemed to have the ability to make friends with everyone. 

The girl continued to cry as we all watched her, even Kemper through the rearview mirror. "They're all dead." She choked out and seemed crumble. I felt my eyes widen; dead? It seemed almost impossible. 

"God, I am _way _too stoned for this!" Morgan cried and rubbed his eyes with his hands. Erin told Kemper they needed to find a hospital and Kemper agreed, except for the fact that he had no idea of where to find a hospital. I hadn't realized until that moment just how far away we were from anyone else, any houses or police stations. What if there was some crazy killer on the lose that had killed this girl's family or friends and almost killed her? If there was and we stumbled upon him, we'd have no way to protect ourselves; Andy was pretty strong but he wasn't going to be strong enough against a gun or other device of heinous torture. I shuddered and pressed closer to Andy, who wrapped his arm around my shoulder. 

"Um, who's dead?" I questioned, a confused half-smile on my face. Maybe I'd heard wrong. 

The girl started to cry again and didn't answer. She looked up, peering through the rearview mirror and obliviously didn't like what she saw. We were passing a meat plant, which snuck of blood and death but I didn't think it was just the building that made her react. "No." She muttered. "Stop." When Kemper didn't do as she said, she got even more worked up. "No, stop you're going to wrong way!" She cried and lunched herself toward Kemper. 

Andy attempted to stop her but she was quicker; she kneed me in the mouth but didn't seem to even notice, she was too focused on grabbing at Kemper. "You're going to wrong way!" She screamed before Andy managed to grab her by the waist and throw her back into the seat. 

Kemper slammed on the breaks. I reached up to press a finger against my lips, which throbbed but didn't show any evidence of blood, of which I was glad for. The sight of blood, no matter who's, always made me dizzy to sick to my stomach. 

"He's a bad man." The girl sobbed and clutched her head in hands. "He's a very bad man." Her thighs parted slightly and I saw that the insides were coated with blood. I recoiled and turned away. "He's a very bad man. You can't make me go back." She reached in between her legs; Andy wrinkled his nose. "I won't go back there." 

I chanced a glance back at her in time to see her pull a gun out from between her legs; I felt my heart skip a beat. "Oh God." I whimpered. Andy moved so that he was slightly in front of me and I was grateful for his act of protection. 

The girl looked up from the gun. "You're all gonna die." She informed us before lifting the gun. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end to come but nothing happened; I opened one eye and saw that she had turned the gun on herself. 

"Grab it!" Kemper cried as the girl put the muzzle in her mouth. Andy moved forward but it was too late. She pulled the trigger and the bullet tore through the back of her skull, shattering it into hundreds of pieces and sending blood and gore splattering around the van. 

Someone started screaming and I realized that it was me; Erin screamed as well but her screams were wordless, helpless. "Let me out of here!" I cried and crawled over Andy, scampering for the door. "I gotta get out! Let me out of here!" I finally found the handle and threw the door open, my vision blurry because of the tears in my eyes. My head was spinning, I couldn't seem to stand up straight; I couldn't see, I couldn't think. 

I stumbled to the back of the van, clutched my stomach as I doubled over and vomited. 


	3. Finest Food in Town

Okay, I noticed I made a huge mistake in writing this story; I messed up the color of Kemper's van, while I was watching the movie, if you can believe that. So, sorry about that. 

Chapter Three 

Finest Food in Town 

The first thing I was aware of after I stopped vomiting was someone's hands on my shoulders, pulling my damp hair away from my sweaty cheeks. I turned back to see who it was but the motion unsettled my stomach again and I threw up once more, retching until I was dry heaving and gagging. Whoever was standing behind me continued to comfortingly stroke my head and hold my shoulders. "You're all right, everything's all right." It was Andy, trying to sound comforting but really sounding frightened and confused. How could he say that everything was going to be all right when a girl had just blown her head off right in front of us? Thinking about it made my stomach turn again but there was nothing left to throw up. 

I finally lifted myself up and turned to look at Andy and he smiled sympathetically; his face was pale, and his eyes were round with sorrow. Looking into his eyes I realized that a part of him blamed himself for what the girl had done; he had tried to snatch the gun from her hands but he hadn't been fast enough. Wiping the corners of my mouth, I shuddered and pulled myself against his chest and closed my eyes; it was no good, the only thing I could see was the way the girl had looked when the bullet tore through the back of her skull. 

I could hear Kemper whispering comforting words to Erin as he pulled her into his arms and Morgan was pacing around, looking confused and helpless. As I watched him, I caught sight of something on my bare shoulder and narrowed my eyes to get a closer look. Blood and something a little chunkier had splattered onto my shoulder and legs, wet despite the intense heat that was already drying the gore. I screamed and Andy jumped but I didn't pay any attention to him as I started clawing at my shoulder, screaming again when I touched the wet matter with my fingers. 

"It's all over me!" I cried, continuing to claw at my skin, shuddering in revulsion and feeling close to vomiting again. Andy grabbed my hands and pulled them away from my shoulders to keep me from further scratching myself and used his fingers to wipe off the rest of the blood. 

"It's okay." He said. "It's gone." I nodded by continued to brush my palm across my shoulders, just to make sure. 

Morgan continued his pacing, ignoring what was going on around him. "I could've died out there!" He shouted, looking for someone to blame, for anything to say. I wanted to slap him; someone had died in the van, a girl we had been unable to help. 

"We all could've Morgan." Kemper muttered. He continued to hold onto Erin, who was shivering in his arms. "I've never seen anyone die before." He said, more to himself then to the rest of us. 

Andy wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me against his chest; he was shivering slightly which only made me draw closer to him. 

"Most people never do." Morgan snapped back at Kemper, who stood and glared at him. 

"I don't see how that's helping us right now, man!" He cried, looking just as helpless as the rest of us. I didn't see how anything was ever going to help us. What were we going to do about the girl? We didn't even know who she was? And what about her family? 

Morgan whirled to face Kemper. "Why did we have to pick her up?!" He shouted. "Why the fuck did we have to stop!" I continued to glare at him; he had seen how badly hurt and shaken that girl was, how could he have not wanted to help her. 

"She needed help!" Erin cried, bursting into tears but Morgan ignored her. "Look of help we gave her." He muttered. 

Andy squeezed my shoulders before heading over to where Morgan and Kemper were peering into the van; I didn't understand how they could continue to look at that poor girl's body. I sniffed and felt tears prick the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill over. Erin came over to me and pulled me into an embrace; I let her, relieved to see that I wasn't the only one heartsick about what the girl had done to herself. "I don't understand." I cried. "Why did she have to do it? And why did she have to pick us? Why did she have to pick us?" I dissolved into sobs, crying into Erin's shoulder. Never in a million years would I forget the look in that girl's eyes as she pulled the trigger; there was no emotion in them what so ever. 

Kemper and Morgan continued to argue about what to do with the body; Morgan pointed out that the cops wouldn't care about the corpse with the piñata filled with pot in the backseat. At the mention of the drug, Erin pulled away from me and turned to glare at Kemper before stalking off, away from the van and into a field with hip-high grass. Seeing Erin's reaction, Kemper snatched up the piñata and hurled it into the field with a couple of steers. 

"Kemper! You can't just throw the shit out!" Andy yelled and I turned to look at him. He looked guilty at having appeared to care more about the drugs then the body in the backseat and I looked away from him before he could do anything about apologizing. 

"It's over." Kemper muttered as he headed over to where Erin was standing with her back to us. I watched them for a moment before sighing and dropping down the ground, ignoring the dirt grains as they bit uncomfortably into my legs, and drew my knees up to my chin. I wiped my nose with the palm of my hand and then wiped my hand on my shirt; I shuddered. I didn't think I had ever felt dirtier in my entire life. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Andy kneeling down beside me. "Are you all right?" He questioned and I looked away from him. I didn't feel like talking right now about what I was feeling, which was a long way from all right. Andy didn't leave despite my silence. "I'm sorry." He muttered and I turned to look at him again. What could he possibly be sorry about? "I'm sorry I couldn't stop her." 

Something about the look on his face and the hurt in his words tugged at my hurt and a fresh round of tears pricked my eyes. I put my arms around his shoulders and embraced him, pressing my face against his shoulders and sighing. "It's not your fault." I muttered but, even to myself, the words were somewhat emotionless, insincere. It wasn't his fault but somehow I couldn't find the energy to make sure he truly understand that fact. 

Andy put his arms around me and held me for a long while, even after Erin had returned with Kemper lagging behind. I felt good in his arms, safe, and it was almost impossible to forget about what had happened in the van and the problem that wasn't going to go away. I closed my eyes and enjoyed that feeling, only because I knew that it wasn't going to last very long. 

"So, what are we going to do?" Kemper questioned, looking at each one of us in turn. No one had any ideas. Andy pulled away and stood; I remained sitting, unwilling to look at the van and its contents. Was I know thinking of that poor, dead girl as nothing as an object? 

"I'll you one thing." I said and finally turned to look at everyone. "There is no possible way I'm ever getting back in that van." 

Morgan glared at me. "Fine, you can stay here." He muttered and turned to study the blood coated insides of the car. "We can't stay on the side of the road forever." 

"He's right." Kemper agreed. "I think I saw a sign for a town just after we picked her up. There's gotta be a sheriff's office around." 

I wrinkled my nose. There was a dead body in the back of the van and everyone wanted to pile in and go joy riding looking for a police officer. Well, maybe it wasn't joy riding but everyone wanted to get inside nonetheless. "I can't handle getting back inside." I stated and crossed my arms over my chest. 

No one said anything; Kemper headed back toward the driver's side of the car and climbed inside, starting up the van. Morgan slowly got into the back and stayed as far away from the girl as possible, pressing himself against Kemper's seat to put extra distance between himself and the corpse. Erin looked over at me and wordlessly headed toward the passenger side of the van. Now only Andy hadn't gotten inside and I wondered if he was just going to leave me sitting in the dirt like the others had. 

"C'mon, Pepper, get inside." Andy said and gestured toward the van. "You can't stay out here by yourself." He almost looked imploring. 

I stared at him; I didn't want to say by myself but I didn't want to get into that van with the nearly headless corpse either. And the corpse was certainly weighing a bit heavier in my mind. "Sure I can." I muttered. "I'll just hitch a ride from someone else." I waited to see his reaction. 

Andy stepped a little closer to where I was sitting. "I guess I can't talk you out to staying but I can say this: whatever drove that girl to shoot herself is out here." He studied me, waiting to see my reaction. It was exactly the one he had been hoping for. I jumped to my feet and followed him to the van; he did have a point, something had driven that girl crazy and killed whoever she had been with. At least, that's what I had gathered from "they're all dead." I wasn't going to take any chances to see whether or not my assumption was correct. 

The smell of the body hit me in the face as soon I as climbed into the van; in the Texas heat, the body was starting to rot and stink much worse then what I guessed was normal. I hadn't been around a lot of corpses to compare with. I nearly vomited again but managed to keep from hurling by clamping my hands across my mouth. Andy pulled the door shut and sat down next to me, face drawing up in disgust. As Kemper pulled off the shoulder, the body rocked but remained slumped in the seat; her mouth with still open from where she had put her lips around the gun and her hands were limply at her sides. I noticed that her eyes were still wide open, staring up at the ceiling with the same lifeless gaze she had had before she pulled the trigger. 

"Is there anything we can cover her with?" I questioned, looking back at Kemper since it was his van. 

Kemper shrugged. "I dunno." He answered. "There's not a blanket if that's what you want." 

I looked away and the first thing I saw was the body and those lifeless eyes. Andy shifted beside me and lifted up a newspaper, which he had been sitting on; he handed it to me. "You can cover her with this." I took the paper but wasn't quite sure whether or not to cover her with it. It seemed kinda disrespectful. 

The van bumped over a pot hole and the body rocked again, her head slumping a little on her shoulders. I shuddered. The newspaper would have to do. I pulled off the front page and slowly leaned forward, holding my breath the entire time, until I was close enough to drop the print over her head. Instantly, blood seeped through, turning the paper red and making the ink run. I continued to cover her with the rest of the pages as best I could, until only her arms and shoulders were visible. I snatched my bag from where it lay on the floor beside the seat the corpse was on and sat back down, exhaling and wishing I hadn't. 

I rummaged through my travel bag until I found the two dollar perfume I had bought down in Mexico a couple of weeks ago from a group of starving kids. I didn't really think the perfume smelled all that great but it was for a good cause and now it was going to come in handy because whatever scent the perfume was supposed to be was definitely going to smell better then the corpse. 

Taking the cap off the perfume, I sprayed the mist around the body, waving my hand to get the smell to spread to the rest of the van. Morgan wrinkled his nose when I sprayed the perfume close to him and swatted at my hand, almost knocking the bottle from my hands. 

Andy watched me out of the corner of his eye while he continued to study the dead body. "I guess that's what brains look like. Kind of like...lasagna." I turned to look at him. Had he really just said that? 

Everyone else in the van turned back to look at him as well. "Okay, I'll shut up now." Andy mumbled. That was probably for the best. 

I sat down again, too uncomfortable to be too close to anyone; there was just something about a corpse that didn't put you in the romantic mood. Andy glanced behind him and leaned forward suddenly. "Dude, gas station." He pointed past Erin at a faded wooden sign. I turned to study the sign, which was slowly passing by the van; _BBQ: Best in Town, _the sign proclaimed, adding something about gas, clothes and tires down at the bottom. 

We found the gas station easy enough, though I had a hard time believing that the place was still in business. The building looked like it would fall over if the wind blew hard enough and the single pump didn't look like it would yield any gas. Yet, if they had a phone or knew where the sheriff's office was then it could have been the Hilton Hotel as far as I was concerned. 

Kemper pulled in beside the pump and I couldn't get out of the van fast enough. Andy was right behind me and Morgan right behind him. Kemper stayed in the driver's seat even after Erin had gotten out of the car; we stood in front of the store and I studied it closely. It was a creepy looking place, the sort of building a serial killer would hide in and keep the bodies of all his victims. I shuddered at the thought; it wasn't pleasant, especially considering what had happened to the girl in the van. 

Kemper finally got out of the van and headed over to Erin, who still wasn't too keen on being around him. "C'mon Erin, let's find a bathroom." I suggested. Erin headed toward the back of the gas station and I followed after her. I could still feel Andy watching me but it didn't make me feel the same it had hours ago. Once this whole incident was sorted out and the corpse was somewhere other then the backseat of the van then I'd be more open to romance. 

The bathroom was wooden shack, a said excuse for an outhouse, but as long as it had a sink I didn't care. I could still feel the girl's blood on my shoulders, on my hands, and I just wanted to get cleaned up. I went to open the door but a heavy padlock kept it shut. I groaned. 

Erin pulled out a pocketknife, flicked the blade out and stuck it in the lock, twisting it slowly and expertly. I stared at her; where had she learned how to jimmy locks open? "Big brothers." She muttered, as though she could tell what I was thinking.

I leaned against the side of the shack. "I just feel so disgusting right now." I told her and shuddered. She was lucky, she hadn't gotten any of the girl's blood and brains on her; I didn't think I'd ever feel clean again. 

Erin worked the door open and it swung outward. The bathroom was nothing more then a shit-stained toilet with flies buzzing around; it smelt worse then the inside of the van. Looking inside, I wanted to vomit and quickly backed away. Erin wrinkled her face up in disgust and let the door swing shut again. "Disgusting." She mumbled as we headed back toward the van. 

The boys were still inside and I was in no hurry to get back into the van; I leaned against the hood and Erin stood beside me. "How could you kill herself?" I questioned. Erin didn't answer, she just stared straight ahead. "How could you stick a gun in your mouth and know the second you pulled the trigger that it was going to be all over for you?" 

"I don't know Pepper." Erin muttered and I could tell right away that she didn't want to talk about it. Well, she didn't have to talk, she just had to listen. 

"What was she thinking?" I continued. "Did you see the look in her eyes right before she pulled the trigger?" Erin remained silent. "They were expressionless, completely blank, like she didn't care whether a bullet shattered the back of her head or not. I wonder what happened to her." 

Erin turned to look at me. "Can we just stop talking about this please?" She snapped, face wane and I nodded quickly. I didn't want Erin mad at me just because I couldn't keep my thoughts to myself; she was the only friend I had at the moment and life was hard enough alone. 

We stood in silence for a few minutes before Andy and the others emerged from the gas station. I hurried over to him and he put his arms around my waist. "When's the sheriff coming?" I questioned. 

"He's not coming here." Andy answered and I looked at him, surprised. "He's going to meet us in some shit-hole place called Crawford Creek or Mill or something." 

I wrinkled my nose. "Why? Why can't he just come here?" We were back at the van again and I could smell the corpse from outside. 

Andy shrugged and helped me inside. I didn't know where this Crawford place was but it better be close by. The sooner we got there, the better. 


	4. The Evils of the Indigenous Possums

So, thanks for the wonderful reviews; keep 'em up. Cheers to all my fellow Pepper fans out there! 

Chapter Four 

The Evils of the Indigenous Possums 

Getting back into Kemper's van was probably one of the worst experiences of my entire life; the stink of the corpse hung in the van, enclosed by the walls and I gagged as I sat down beside Andy, clamping my fingers over my mouth and nose, to keep from throwing up again. Andy placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and I could tell that the stink was getting to him as well. Erin and Kemper both rolled down their windows and for once, I didn't even think to complain about the Texas heat and grit that found its way into the van; anything was better then the smell of the corpse. 

Kemper pulled out of the gas station and headed down the cracked road, away from the gas station and toward more rolling, unpopulated, boring fields. "Where is the Crawford Mill?" I questioned, wondering just long I would have to stay in the van. It didn't look promising. 

"The lady in the gas station said there'd be a turn off in about five minutes." Andy answered and I realized five minutes was five minutes too long. Maybe I would have been better trying to hitch another ride on the side of the road. 

The smell was really getting to me; I gagged and turned my head away, trying to catch some of the breeze coming through Erin's window. 

Finally, Kemper spotted the turn off the woman back at the gas station had spoken of and turned onto a dirt road, shaded by leafy trees. The road was bumpy and uneven and the corpse rocked slightly. 

"Can you hurry up?" I mumbled, dry heaving. "She's starting to stink back here." That was an understatement. 

Morgan rolled his eyes. "No worse then the inside of that store." I gagged again and covered my mouth and nose with a crumpled tissue I had found inside of my purse. 

As Kemper continued to pilot the van down the dirt road, the wheels bounced in a pothole, or perhaps ran over something, because the car rocked roughly and the body tumbled over, onto its side, sending a whole new wave of stink coursing through the van. "Oh God." I grumbled and tried to back up a few more inches, anything that would put as much distance between myself and the corpse. Andy covered his nose as well, looking away. 

The Crawford Mill finally came into view, though it wasn't soon enough for me. The mill didn't look like any mill I had ever seen, more like an old farm house gone wrong; the building was old and wooden, weathered and falling apart. It was also abandoned, I didn't see any sign of anyone having been there in years and there definitely wasn't a sheriff around from what I could see. 

Andy opened the van door and jumped out, turning to help me out of the van, the perfect gentleman. I smiled and took his hand, holding it for a moment before heading away from the van. There wasn't another car around, and certainly no sheriff; I sighed and sat down on the bumper of the van, already weary from the heat. 

"Hello?" Andy called, poking around near one of the walls of the mill with the toe of his boot. I watched him, hoping that there weren't any snakes in those bushes; Andy getting bitten by a snake would really make this the worst day of my entire life and it was bad enough as it stood. 

Kemper sighed and took his hat off, running his fingers through his hair. "Ain't no sheriff here." He mumbled, gazing toward the sweeping fields that lay before us. I turned to follow his gaze, studying the landscape; there wasn't another horse I could see, just a cluster of woods and more dry Texas grass. 

Erin came to stand beside me, leaning against the side of the van and glaring at Kemper; I guessed they hadn't kissed and made up yet. Morgan also looked over at the mechanic. "I say we dump the body." He remarked. 

I stared at him in surprise; how could he suggest such a horrible thing? That girl was still a person, or she had been at one point in time and she deserved to be treated like one. 

"No!" Erin snapped and everyone turned to look at her. 

Morgan narrowed his eyes at her. "I think we should vote on it." He said, though this time he was speaking to Kemper. 

"Kemper no." Erin said firmly and Morgan turned to look at her again, saying something about a democracy. I didn't see what democracy had to do with anything; we were talking about the body of a dead girl, not politics. I looked over at Andy, who was staring down at the ground, certain that he would understand how wrong it would be to leave this poor girl here, with her parents out there, wondering what had happened to her. 

"I say we dump her." Andy muttered without looking up. 

My eyes went wide. "Pig." I accused and Andy actually looked guilty, but he didn't retract his vote. 

Morgan looked at Kemper to make the final decision; I had always figured that Kemper was in charge and nothing was done without his consent. Let's see if he sided with his girlfriend on this one and even if he didn't, what was I going to do? Stay here at this shitty, creepy mill and wait around for the sheriff with only a corpse for company? I don't think so. 

"Baby, she's dead, I don't think it matters." Kemper said finally, looking at Erin, who didn't look very pleased. 

Erin narrowed her eyes. "Well it matters to me, if that means anything." I nodded in agreement but remained silent. She seemed to have this pretty much under control. "That girl has got parents out there that are going to want her back, not just dumped on the side of the road like a piece of trash." 

I nodded again. "It's just wrong to leave her." I added. "How would you feel if you died and no one cared?" I looked at Andy as I said this but I really didn't mean the comment to be directed at him. I could tell he felt bad already and I didn't want to make him feel any worse. But I also didn't want to dump the girl here; I'd think about her and her poor family for the rest of my life if I did that. 

Kemper sighed. Andy stood up and said, "Fine, let's go find the sheriff," staring at me the entire time. He started off, toward the back of the Crawford Mill, and Kemper and Erin followed after him. 

I smiled to myself as I rushed to catch up with Andy; he was a good guy after all, someone I could definitely see myself with. He turned around and held out his hand and I took it, walking close to him through the dry grass, worried again about snakes. 

"Do you think there are any snakes out here?" I questioned, looking up at him before looking down in the grass again. 

Andy looked at the grass as well. "I don't see any." He assured me and I smiled again. I didn't think I had to worry about snakes with Andy around. I also didn't worry about what other evils could be lurking inside the creepy Crawford Mill; what if whatever had driven that girl crazy lived inside? I shuddered and drew closer to Andy; I really didn't want to think about it. 

The part of the Crawford Mill we had come to now was even more unsettling then where the van was parked. All sorts of rusted metal lay around the ground; were objects, naked dolls and animal skulls, hung on the side of the mill. One doll even had cow horns coming from where its arms should be. Whoever created that stuff was definitely one messed up dude. 

"So, what now?" Morgan questioned and glared at all of us. He'd made it more then clear that he didn't want to be here. Well, he could go wait in the van for all I cared. 

I peered into the darkness that was in the inside of the Crawford Mill and wasn't too keen on going inside; besides, the sheriff wouldn't have any reason to be in there anyway. If he was here at all. We all gathered around in front of the entrance, not really sure what to do. 

I continued to stare into the darkness, nearly jumping out my skin when a human sized shadow passed in front of the foyer. I swallowed a scream and shouted, "I just saw something in there!" Morgan was saying the same thing, so I knew that I wasn't crazy. 

Andy and Kemper turned to look and I could tell that Andy believe what I said but Erin didn't look so sure. "You guys are just trying to scream me into leaving." She snapped and headed into the darkness. 

Kemper tried to keep her from leaving but she would have none of it. She disappeared into the darkness. "Erin," I called after her. "You don't know what's inside there." I was worried about her. Why was she going inside? 

I turned to look at Andy. "We should go after her." I pointed out but Andy shook his head and put his arm on my shoulder to keep me from going. 

"It's not safe." He said and I knew he was right but that didn't mean that we shouldn't try and stop Erin. Kemper should be trying to protect her not us. But still, Andy's concern of my well being made tiny butterflies flap in my stomach; the good sort of butterflies, not the kind you got right before you got up in front of a bunch of people to give of speech. Or saw a girl pull a gun out from between her legs, for that matter. 

Suddenly, Erin cried out, her scream slicing through the stillness of the Texas air like a knife. "Kemper!" Kemper bolted upright instantly, charging into the darkness of the Crawford Mill without a second thought. 

I followed after him, worried for Erin (the butterflies again, bad ones this time) and Andy didn't try to stop me this time. Instead, he grabbed a tire iron from the clutter of junk and headed into the darkness behind us. I could hear Morgan grumbling as he stepped into the mill as well, more worried about being left alone then he was about Erin. 

Erin was standing, shrouded in shadows, with her arms crossed over her chest. A sly smile spread across her face. "Just kidding." She grinned and I could have killed her at that moment. Didn't she realize how much she'd had us all worried? She was just mad about the whole argument over dumping the girl. 

"That wasn't funny Erin." I told her. "I was worried about you." I guess she saw the truth in my face and she looked guilty for what she had done. 

If she apologized, I didn't know it because a rattling sound drown out her words and caused me to cry out in surprise. We all spun in the direction of the sound; it was coming from some rusty cabinet, the doors nearly falling off their hinges but concealing whatever was inside making the noise. I grabbed onto Andy and he squeezed my hand; the rattling continued. Whatever inside was trying to come out. 

"What is that?" Erin questioned, all serious and slightly scared now, and she rushed over to Kemper's side. 

Kemper took a step toward the cabinet but Andy stopped him, handing the tire iron to him. "Okay," Kemper began and turned to look at Andy, Morgan and I. "When I open the door, whatever's inside might jump out. So, just be ready to shut those doors, just in case." 

I wasn't quite sure I wanted the responsibility of dealing with whatever was inside of that cabinet but I didn't say anything. Instead, I tensed up and waited for Kemper to open the doors, imagining all sorts of horrible monsters hiding behind that door. Monsters that made that poor girl crazy and tore the rest of her family to pieces. 

Kemper reached for the door, I almost told him to stop but figured that that thing was coming out anyway and it was better that we were ready for it. The doors swung open and a creature, more horrible the anything I had ever seen before, screeched like something straight out of Hell and I cried out, leaping forward to slam the doors shut again. The thing continued to squeal and I felt my heart hammer against my chest like it was going to come right up my throat. 

Morgan started laughing and Andy did too; Kemper and I turned to look at them and I raised an eyebrow, feeling my cheeks flush. What were the laughing at? Didn't they see that horrible creature inside the cabinets? 

"It was a possum." Morgan laughed, sounding relieved. "Just a possum, indigenous to the southwest..." 

A possum? That couldn't be right? But then again, that would explain why the thing inside had been kinda small...and white...and it did look like it had a furry nose and whiskers. Maybe it had been a possum after all. Well, that possum deserved to be road kill for the heart attack it had given me. 

"Let's get out of here." I mumbled and turned to go. I'd had enough excitement for one day, thank you very much. 

Before anyone else could follow me, there was another sound, a heavier, louder, _thudding _sound that came from behind us. That was no possum. There was something else in here with us. 


	5. A Walk in the Woods

Chapter Five 

A Walk in the Woods

The sound echoed through the Crawford Mill again. I jumped and clung to Andy; he squeezed my hand. I could hear my own heart thudding against my chest. Morgan stepped closer toward the noise but still stayed behind Andy, both of us relying on him for some form of protective or another. 

"What was that?" He questioned, peering through his glasses' lens into the darkness. 

I shuddered. "Probably something that wants to kill us. The rustling noises always come before the screaming and the dying." I ranted and Andy looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. "They'll find pieces of us all over Texas for months." 

"I think we get the picture baby." Andy mumbled and I shut my mouth, holding tighter to his arm. 

Erin was ushering Kemper toward the head of the group and he grudgingly took a step into the darkness. "Okay," he shouted, "If someone's out there, stop fucking around and just come on out!" He was pretty convincing. 

We all waited in silence, Kemper's threat still echoing through the mill. More rustling and I jumped; it was coming from the right, where light managed to slip through the cracks in the boards. And finally, I was able to see what had been making the noises; it was a child, a small boy, too skinny and too dirty to be healthy. He was sitting on a dirty mattress, stained with God knew what, staring at us with round eyes that peeked out from beneath his bangs and the rings of dirt on his face. Erin sucked in a breath and I felt the sight of him tug at my heart; who would leave a poor child out here all on his own? Who would be that cruel? 

The boy blinked and crawled across the mattress, a little closer to us, his long legs almost spider-like as he moved. "What did you do to her?" He questioned, voice thick with a southern accent and curiosity. 

"Who?" Andy questioned. I couldn't take my eyes off that poor boy, wondering how he had ended up in this abandoned, heartless, creepy place all on his own. 

The boy blinked again. "That girl in your van." He answered, staring at each of us in turn. 

Kemper sighed. "We didn't do that to her, she did that to herself." He answered, looking over at Erin, who was looking at the child sadly. 

"You poor thing." Erin mumbled and stepped toward the boy. "Why are you in here all alone, this place could be dangerous. Why don't you come out here with us." 

The boy eyed her skeptically. "Promise you won't hurt me?" He questioned. 

Erin smiled. "Promise." She held her hand out to him and after a moment's thought, the skinny boy stood and walked over to her, taking her hand. 

I looked down at the boy as we headed out of the mill (thankfully) and into the sunlight once more. "Do you live here?" I asked him. He reminded me of the kids in Mexico, the ones that have no money and have to sell whatever they can find on the streets just to eat dinner every night. 

The boy shrugged. "I live around." He answered and would say no more after that. 

Once we were outside again, we headed back to where the van was parked; I wasn't too eager to be around the corpse again but I was even less eager to be around this part of the mill. What if boys and possums weren't the only thing inside of there? Plus, I've heard that possums can carry rabies. 

Andy swept me into his arms when we were at the van again, wrapping his arms around my waist and I laid my head against his chest, watching Erin and the small boy, who sat down beside her. Andy trailed his fingers absently down my back and I let him, enjoying the way he seemed to make me shiver without even trying. I couldn't wait to get out of this hellish place and to Dallas, where I could get to know him a little better. 

Erin studied the child. "My name's Erin." She introduced, hoping that the boy would do the same. 

He was a strange looking kid, the way his upper jaw seemed to almost jut out from beneath his lips and his dirty hair stuck straight up into spikes. Every part of his body was skinny, gangly and dirty. "Jedidiah." He said, licking his tongue across his teeth and spitting into the dirt. 

Morgan snickered and rolled his eyes. I knew exactly what he was thinking; could this place be anymore _Beverly Hillbillies? _Well, as far as I remembered, there were no creepy mills with animal skulls hanging on the walls in Beverly. I sighed; I was never going to watch another show about the country ever again. 

"So, junior," Andy said, trying to get the kid's attention. When Jedidiah continued to stare off into space, he decided to continue without a response. "We're supposed to meet the sheriff here, do you know where he is?" 

I watched the kid closely, hoping that this tiny bumpkin would know the quickest way to get us out of here. He nodded and I could have jumped for joy. Andy's squeezed my hand slightly and smiled out of the corner of his mouth, a smile only I could see. "So, where?" He pressed. 

Jedidiah drew in the dirt with his toe. "At home." He answered. "Getting drunk." That was not the news I wanted to hear. 

Morgan sighed and got to his feet, clapping his hands together. "So, cool, let's split." He said and I looked over at him. "If the sheriff doesn't give a shit then why should we?" 

We were about to have the conversation about the dead girl again; I was stick and tired of dealing with that idiot girl. Why couldn't she have just shot herself on the side of the road and left us the hell alone? I could be halfway to Dallas by now, cuddling in Andy's arms, instead of in the Texas heat, surrounded by animal skulls and creepy kids. Maybe we should just dump her. 

Erin wasn't going to have it though. "Does the sheriff live around here?" She questioned, looking at Jedidiah. 

The kid nodded. "But the road don't go there." He added and I sighed, feeling frustration boil in my blood. It was my least favorite emotion, I hated the feeling of uselessness, of not being able to do anything productive. Throwing a tantrum and kicking up Texas dust with my new cowboy boots, two sizes too big Andy had pointed out, but I hadn't thrown a tantrum since I had been five. Yelling at my parents about joining the Peace Corp didn't count. 

Erin looked over at Kemper and her boyfriend simply sighed. "How do I get there?" He questioned and Erin's face brightened. 

"Whoa, Kemp," Andy said, pulling away from me and heading over to his friend. "You're not thinking of going over there and finding the sheriff? He's supposed to be here; we already came all the way out here to find him." 

Kemper sighed again; Morgan saw this as another opportunity to plead his case. "I think we should dump her and get the hell out of here." He repeated and this time not even Erin said anything against him. 

I looked over at the van and then turned back to face the others. "Well, what about that old woman? The one at the gas station? She could have gotten our license plant number and then if the sheriff does show up later, looking for us, and finds the body, then we could all go to jail." I pointed out. I'd been to jail before, it wasn't something I cared to repeat. 

Andy glanced at me. "That lady doesn't care. She made it perfectly clear that 'what we do is our own business'." As he spoke, he mimicked the old lady's shaky, screeching speech and I couldn't help but smile. 

"We can't leave her." Erin wasn't complaining, she wasn't whining, she was simply stating a fact. "I'll go find the sheriff's house if I have to." She looked at Kemper to see if he would challenge her words. 

Kemper looked at Jedidiah. "How do I get there?" He asked again and Jedidiah told him as best he could, gesturing toward the woods and saying something about a house with a big porch. 

Erin and Kemper started off in the direction Jedidiah had pointed them, leaving Andy, Morgan and I to sit in front of the Crawford Mill with Jedidiah and a rotting corpse for company. Or, at least we had the corpse; Jedidiah took off as soon as Erin and Kemper had disappeared, vanishing around the other side of the mill. 

I sighed. What were we supposed to do here until Erin and Kemper returned with the sheriff? Maybe there were more houses around the other side of the mill that we hadn't seen before; maybe one of them would have a phone that we could use to let the sheriff know that Kemper and Erin were coming so he could get his butt in gear and meet them. Or at least they might be willing to extend a little southern hospitality and offer us some cold drinks; my throat felt like it was filled with dust. 

"Andy, I'm going to go see if there are any more houses around." I said and extended my hand, the way Erin had done earlier, smiling slightly so that he could get the idea to join me. 

Andy bent down and picked up a handful of pebbles and rocks. "Be my guest." He mumbled and hurled one of the rocks into the grass, nearly hitting Morgan, who didn't look too pleased by the near miss. 

My brow knitted and I lowered my hand; that wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind. Andy was supposed to offer to happily join me, be my knight in shining armor in case there were any snakes or anymore possums. But he went right on throwing rocks into the grass. "Fine." I snapped. "I will." 

I stalked away from the mill, wounded even further when Andy didn't say anything to stop my going. Now I wasn't so sure that I wanted to go poking around through the grass and spidery trees, even if there was the chance that I'd find another house. All I could see was rolling hills, dying grass, leafless trees and, of course, the creepy Crawford Mill. No houses. I thought about turning around and heading back to where Andy and Morgan were but I quickly changed my mind; going back would just show Andy that I was too nervous to go anywhere without him. Hell, I was from Texas, I shouldn't be afraid to go poking through the woods; I'd done it enough times while growing up. 

_But that was before girls shot themselves in vans, _I reminded myself and shuddered. I didn't want to think about that poor girl, especially not right now. With a determined sigh, I continued away from the mill and into the grass, heading toward a thicket that successfully hid whatever was waiting on the other side. Every so often, when the wind would blow particularly strong, I could smell the rot and decay from the meat packing plant we had passed after picking up the dead girl. The smell reminded me of being inside the van and I felt the familiar sensation of preparing to retch; I swallowed, forcing the relax down and covered my nose until the breeze died down and the smell with it. 

I finally arrived at the thicket and wasn't surprised to find that there was nothing to see. In Texas, there was a whole lot of nothing to see and this place was no exception. I trailed my fingers along the trunk of one rotting tree as I headed into the small groove that could have at one time been an orchard. Nothing was growing on the trees now and it didn't look like anything had grown for a long while. 

Dry twigs and leaves cracked beneath my boots as I continued, peering up at the trees and into the cloudless sky. It was silent here, aside from the low humming of bugs that buzzed around my ears and eyes, and almost comforting, the way the trees seemed to form a secluded, almost safe place. I wished Andy had come after all, it would have been nice to share this strange, peaceful place with him. 

Something snapped somewhere off to the right and I felt my body tense up with fear, all thoughts of peace and quite disappearing. Something else was close, and somehow I doubted that it was Andy. I looked around for some sort of weapon to defend myself with but didn't see anything aside from the gnarled, thin branches that I had recently stepped over. That would have to do. As I bent down to retrieve one of them, something snapped again, closer this time and I jerked upright, holding the stick out in front of me, the way I had learned how to fence in the fourth grade. At least I remembered something from school. 

"Okay," I said aloud, trying to sound as tough as Kemper had when we were back in the Crawford Mill. "Whoever's out there, just go away, because, I'm warning you: I know how to fence." Not very threatening. "So just leave." Not too much better. "You mother fucker." Okay, now that was tough. 

But not tough enough. The snapping continued and it was getting much closer; the thorny bushes that were only feet in front of me began to rustle and I knew whatever was around was about to come out of those bushes. I had a feeling those fencing lessons weren't going to come in handy at all when that someone or something finally showed its hideous face. Maybe it was just another possum but I didn't think they came out during the day; Morgan would know, if Morgan was here. But he wasn't, he was safe, back at the van with Andy, where I should be. 

The bushes continued to rustle and I gripped my stick tighter. This is it, it's all over. The skinny branches on the bush finally parted and revealed....nothing more then a cute bunny with long legs and floppy ears that dragged the ground as it hopped out of the bushes. I let out a deep breath, relaxing and laughing at myself; for the second time today, I had let a cute, _Snow White _woodsy creature nearly scare the shit out of me. There was nothing this deep in the forest beside the animals; I was alone but that didn't mean that I wasn't too keen on sticking around much longer. 

I turned around and found myself face to face with the creepy little hillbilly kid, Jedidiah, who was standing behind me, just staring, waiting for me to turn around. I screamed at his sudden appearance before I could stop myself and stumbled backward; my reaction must have amused Jedidiah because he started laughing like I was the funniest thing he had ever seen. 

"God." I breathed when I was able to speak, my heart pounding in my chest. I ran my fingers through my hair and exhaled again. "Don't do that." Jedidiah continued to laugh. I almost threw my stick at him but forget all about retaliating when I looked past the country bumpkin and saw Andy running in my direction, looking concerned, with Morgan huffing and puffing behind him. How sweet! He must have heard me scream and come to be my knight in shining armor after all. I couldn't help but smile; every time I misjudged Andy, he always did something to let me know I had made a mistake. 

"Are you all right?" Andy questioned when he arrived, looking down at Jedidiah for a second before looking back up at me. He looked genuinely concerned, even after it was obvious that I was nothing but shook-up. 

I nodded. "Jedidiah surprised me." I admitted. "I didn't mean to scare you." Though I was glad I had; at least I knew now that Andy cared about me after all. 

Morgan finally arrived, holding onto his sides like he was about to have a hernia and leaned against the trunk of a tree. "Pepper," He panted. "Are you dead? Hurt?" I shook my head to both, raising an eyebrow. "Then why the hell did I just run all the way out here?" 

Neither Andy or I even bothered to think of something to say to him. Andy turned back to look at me. "What are you doing out here?" He questioned, the worry disappearing from his face once he was satisfied that I was indeed all right. Jedidiah continued to stare at us, silently, as though he was watching the greatest television show ever created. Creepy kid. 

"I told you, I was looking for any other houses around here." I answered, stepping past Jedidiah and joining Andy. He put his arm around my waist and I smiled again. 

"Did you find any?" Andy questioned, though I'm sure he knew that I hadn't. There wasn't anything else around since that gas station; we all knew that. Unless Erin and Kemper really did manage to find the sheriff's house, if Jedidiah hadn't just sent them on a wild goose chase. 

I shook my head. Morgan finally managed to compose himself, straightening his glasses and standing up as straight as he could, forcing himself to take a normal breath. "I'm glad you're all right Pepper," he started and I could tell that there was something not so kind was about to follow. "But next time you go wondering off by yourself and something scares you, do me a favor and don't scream." He grumbled, turning and heading back the way he had come. 

Andy and I followed him and after a moment, Jedidiah jogged after all, trotting behind like an obnoxious stray puppy. That kid was really starting to get on my nerves. Andy's arm remained around my waist as we walked. "I should have come with you, Pepper; what if it had been someone else out there instead of Jedidiah?" He said and I frowned. 

"Do you really think there's something bad out here?" I questioned. Sure, it was a creepy place and I certainly wouldn't want to spend the night here but it didn't seem like the sort of place where serial killers hung out and drove teenage girls to shoot themselves. But then again, looks can be deceiving. 

Andy shrugged. "I don't know." He confessed. "But I really don't want to stick around and find out." 


	6. Protect and Serve

Chapter Six

Protect and Serve

The air around the Crawford Mill stank of corpse and blood and I wrinkled my nose as soon as the smell drifted in our direction. The heat was certainly doing nothing to help our situation and I almost preferred going back into the woods with the killer bunny rabbits. I walked over to a tower of tires, piled almost as high as I stood and attempted to sit down upon them, but my sudden weight upset them and I fell backward, against the dusty ground. As I attempted to untangle myself from the tires, I could hear Andy and Morgan laughing over my spill and doing nothing to hide their amusement. Finally, Andy walked over to where I still remained, tangled in tires and grinned at me; he offered his hand but I didn't take it. I didn't need his help.

But apparently, Andy thought that I did because he grabbed my wrists and yanked me effortlessly out of the tire I had been stuck in and to my feet. "Be more careful next time." He suggested with another smile before heading back toward the van, stopping every once and a while to gather more rocks off the ground.

I searched around for another place to sit, my cheeks still burning with embarrassment, making sure that whatever place I sat at next wouldn't spill me onto the ground. I finally found a rusty metal crate, box type thing and sat down upon it, dropping my chin into the palms of my hands and sighing. Erin and Kemper better get back here with the sheriff soon, I was tired of sitting out in the heat in front of this stupid Crawford Mill with all its stupid possums and stacks of tires. Morgan was pacing around, muttering to himself, not looking very happy and Andy had gone back to throwing rocks, this time aiming at targets off in the field that I couldn't really see.

With another sigh, I looked around for that kid Jedidiah and saw him a few feet away from the van, drawing in the dirt with a giant stick. I wanted to ask him what his story was but figured that I wouldn't get too much of a response; he didn't seem to want to talk to anyone but Erin.

Andy tossed the last of his rocks and then turned to face the van. "Hey!" He shouted suddenly and I glanced lazily over in his direction. It seemed like I had been startled enough for the day and the only emotion left was exhaustion. "Get away from there, you sick little mutant."

Jedidiah had given up drawing in the dirt and had climbed halfway in the van and was currently poking and prodding the girl in the backseat with his stick. Morgan rushed over toward the van, interested and peeked through the bloody hole in the glass to see exactly what was going on. I sighed, boys were amused by the stupidest things.

"That's police evidence." Andy continued and snatched the stick away from the kid. Jedidiah scooted out of the van and hurried away, but not before Andy managed to smack him with the stick he was holding. I watched as Jedidiah rushed toward the field, rushing through the tail grass until he disappeared into a copse of trees and I couldn't see him anymore.

"Freaky kid." Andy muttered and hurled the stick into the field. "Everybody around here is fucking nuts."

I wouldn't disagree with that statement. "I just want to get out of here." I muttered. I was never traveling into Texas again, that was for sure.

"Don't we all." Morgan mumbled as he walked away from the van and starting poking around at all the strange creations that hung on the walls of the mill. I watched as he moved from each object to the next; some of the creations were animal skulls, some where toys and some I couldn't even identify. And didn't want to, for that matter.

I decided to watch Andy instead and he noticed my gaze and smiled at me, a real smile this time and I returned the gesture, admiring the way his muscles flexed every time he moved his arms and how his eyes peeked out from beneath his shaggy bangs. One thing was for sure, I definitely liked him.

Suddenly, Morgan shouted out in surprise and both Andy and I turned in his direction. "Something just moved inside of there." He exclaimed, backing up a few paces. "Something big."

Andy narrowed his eyes. "Probably just another possum." He grumbled, clearly sick of being led on numerous wild-goose chases.

"Morgan, if you're just messing around, it's not funny." I snapped, though I had the feeling that he wasn't messing around at all. Last time we saw something moving inside the mill, it had turned out to be Jedidiah, a mostly harmless, though creepy, little kid. But what if we weren't so lucky this time? What if it was something worse?

"I'm not messing around." Morgan insisted. "I really saw something."

As if to prove his point, something rattled around the mill and I leapt to my feet; there was something inside after all. I hurried over to Andy's side and took his hand; he squeezed my hand reassuringly and muttered, "It's probably just that damn possum again." I hoped that he was right.

"What if whatever's inside of there is what drove that girl crazy?" Morgan said, backing up until he was standing beside us as well. "And you guys are just content with standing outside here, waiting to find out."

I glared at him. "Well, if you want to go inside and tell us for sure what's inside, I'm not going to try and stop you." I snapped, a bit more harshly then I had intended.

Andy decided to referee before Morgan could offer a retort. "I think Morgan's right, whatever is inside there could be something not pleasant. Or it could just be the stupid possum again. But, maybe one of us should go inside and check."

Both Morgan and I looked at Andy like he had lost his mind; he quickly held up his hands somewhat defensively. "Hey, I'm not volunteering myself here." He clarified quickly.

"You should go, Morgan, it was your idea." I suggested, wondering if it was a bad thing that I didn't care one way or another whether he went inside there and got attacked by whatever was in the dark.

Morgan narrowed his eyes. "I think you should go, Pepper, since you seem to be so fearless lately, walking into the woods by yourself and fighting off those killer bunnies." Ah, so he had overheard the rabbit story that I had told Andy while we were walking back to the Mill. I narrowed my eyes as well and gave him the finger.

"All right!" Andy snapped and I looked back over at him, as did Morgan. He seemed to be the unspoken leader when Kemper wasn't around. "I say we all go inside and check." He suggested. "There's safety in numbers."

Morgan didn't seem very pleased by this idea and let Andy know it. "Well fine then, either we all go in together, or you go in alone. Or, we can just sit outside and wait around for something to happen." Andy pointed out, clearly just as tired of Morgan as I was. I wondered how Morgan had become friends with everyone.

Andy's words shut Morgan up. I held Andy's hand tightly as we headed into the mill, Morgan following behind, constantly glancing over his shoulder. Andy slipped his arm around my waist as we entered the darkness of the mill, just as we had only thirty minutes earlier, when there had been five of us instead of just three. I was glad that the sun was up, because that way a little light managed to get into the Crawford Mill.

The rattling noise started up again almost as soon as we entered the building, as though whatever was making it had wanted us to come inside. Suddenly, I felt like I was walking into a trap. I clung to Andy as he walked toward the sound, walking behind him with one hand laced with his and the other clinging on to the back of his shirt.

"Dude, this was a bad idea." Morgan whimpered, huddling close behind me. The noise got louder and suddenly Andy stopped dead in his tracks; I knocked into his back and Morgan into mine, almost comical if we had been in any other situation.

"Did you guys hear something?" Andy questioned and I raised an eyebrow. Of course we'd heard something, wasn't that way we were in the mill in the first place?

Morgan had the same expression on his face. "Andy, what do you mean? We all heard whatever noise is coming from the other side of that door." I hadn't realized the sound was coming from behind a door until he had said something. Now I saw that most of the rattling noise was coming from the rusted handle, as though someone was trying to open it but wasn't quite sure how.

"That's not what I'm talking about." Andy snapped, looking back at us. "It was a different sound, almost like a car."

I cocked my head to listen and heard the faint rattling of a car's engine as it traveled through the heat, growing nearer with every second. "Maybe it's the sheriff." I said hopefully.

Morgan turned around and headed out of the mill without needed another farther prodding. I turned to go, turning to look at Andy when he didn't follow. "What's the matter?" I questioned.

"Whatever's on the other side of that door isn't trying to get out anymore." Andy noted and I realized he was right. The rattling had stopped and the Crawford Mill was silent once again.

"C'mon, let's go." I tugged on his arm, stepping away from him and abruptly tripping over something laying across the ground. I fell flat on my face, landing so hard that my teeth snapped together; this time, Andy didn't laugh at my sudden onset of clumsiness. I groaned as I lifted myself upward, looking back at him; he had a shocked, almost frightened look on his face, which caused my heart to skip a beat. "What's the matter?" I questioned, fearing the answer.

Andy blinked and quickly stepped over toward me. "Nothing, let's get out of here." He all but yanked me to my feet and ushered me out of the mill. I didn't even get a chance to see what I had tripped over.

Outside, I saw that a car, marked _Travis Sheriff Department _had pulled up along side the van; Morgan was standing just outside the mill, watching the burly, middle-aged man climb out of his car and place a beige hat on top of his head. He was dressed like a sheriff, complete with a gold badge in the shape of a star and I felt my heart leap with joy. Finally! We were going to get out of this place!

The man nodded in our direction and headed over toward the van; he peeked through the hole in the glass, nodded thoughtfully to himself and then turned back toward us. "I'm not detective," he began, his voice thick with Southern drawl. "But my guess is that this is where your dead body is."

Great, a real genius.

Andy held my hand as we walked closer to where the sheriff was studying the van, Morgan following reluctantly behind. There was something strange about this guy, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. When I got close enough, I saw that the tag on his shirt, below his shining badge, read _Hoyt. _What sort of name was Hoyt? Well, I'm sure a lot of people would say the same about the name Pepper.

"So, why don't you tell me exactly what happened to this girl." Hoyt suggested as he walked over to the side of the van and swung the door open. It clanged against the side of the van and I wondered if it had left a mark. If it had, I bet Kemper wouldn't be too pleased.

"She shot herself." I informed the man and he looked over at me with a bemused expression on his face.

"Is that so?" Hoyt questioned and I nodded, not quite so sure I should have spoken. "Well, I could have guessed that from the fact that she didn't have a head." I slunk behind Andy without even realizing it. This guy reminded me of my father and that wasn't a good thing.

"Calm down man," Andy muttered to the sheriff. "She was just telling what you wanted to know."

Hoyt glared at Andy. "If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it." He snapped. "Until then, would you shut your fucking mouth please son?"

Andy seemed taken aback by his attitude and we both remained silent as Hoyt pushed past Andy and stepped up to Morgan. Morgan looked slightly worried and glanced around, as though he was looking for possible escape routes. "You look like a smart kid, why don't you tell me what happened." He suggested.

I watched Morgan and Hoyt from behind Andy's shoulder, wondering if there was another sheriff in town that we could possibly talk to. This guy Hoyt just seemed like an overgrown kid with an attitude problem that happened to parade around in a sheriff's uniform.

"Well," Morgan began, seeming to be careful of the words he was choosing. "we were driving down the highway, about ten minutes from here and we saw that girl, walking on the side of the road. Our friend Erin, she was the one that called you, thought we should pick her up and help her, so we did, only this girl was beyond our help. She said something about how everyone was dead and then she pulled out that gun and shot herself."

Hoyt nodded and then turned back around to face the van. He knocked roughly into Andy and snapped, "You mind getting the fuck out of my way?". He caught Andy by surprise and he stepped backward, knocking into me. I stumbled backward and almost crashed into the ground for what would surely be the hundredth time today.

Andy grabbed my hand and then glared at Hoyt. "What the hell is your problem?" He snapped.

"Andy." I warned, figuring that it wouldn't help our situation any to get the sheriff pissed off. He'd probably say something like we shot the girl and we'd spend thirty years in jail all because the sheriff rubbed us the wrong way.

Hoyt narrowed his eyes at Andy. "You're my problem." He snapped. "Fucking pricks like you that thing you can do and say anything you want. Well, that's now how it goes down here."

Andy remained silent this time and Hoyt smiled, something that was even more unnerving then when he was angry. "Now that we understand each other, I can go about my business." He remarked and turned back to study the girl, and he didn't like what he saw. "Who covered her up with newspaper?" He didn't sound too pleased.

I looked over at Morgan, who crossed his hands across his chest and raised an eyebrow, and then looked back over at Hoyt. "I did...sir." I told him.

"Now why did you do that, missy?" He snapped and I didn't like the way he said any of those words. Especially not the way he said _missy_; it was as though he was thinking something completely different.

"I just..." I didn't know what to say. "It seemed like a respectful thing to do." I didn't think I could really explain how the girl's lifeless eyes had unnerved me so much that I had to do something about it.

Hoyt seemed to consider this. "Respectful, huh?" He repeated. I just stared at him, I didn't know whether or not he wanted me to confirm what I had said again. "Well, you just tampered with the crime scene."

"Look, can't you just see that it's a suicide, whether or not there's newspaper on the body?" Andy questioned. "Can't you just take the body?"

Hoyt smiled that eerie grin of his eyes. "Sure I can. Just let me do my job." He instructed and recovered the gun that the girl still had laying in her lap. "Who does this belong to?" He asked.

"She had that on her, sir." Andy muttered.

"Really?" Hoyt grinned. "You don't say?" He checked the bullets left the chamber before slipping the gun in a holster around his ankle. It was a perfect fit. Something just wasn't right.

Hoyt climbed into the van, leaving Andy, Morgan and I standing outside, watching him as he prodded the girl, much like Jedidiah had done earlier. I looked at Andy. "Something's not right about him." I whispered.

Andy wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. "Look, as long as he takes the body and we can get out of here, I don't really care." He muttered. I still wasn't so sure. "Everything's going to be all right." He smiled slightly and gave me a gentle kiss. I returned the kiss, feeling that everything was going to be all right. That is, until Hoyt decided to make his jackass presence known again.

"If you two kids could stop groping each other long enough to give me a hand I can get this body out of here." Hoyt snapped and I pulled away from Andy to glare at him.

The sheriff hopped out of the van and looked me up and down, not bothering to hide it. Andy narrowed his eyes and Hoyt only smiled and headed back to his police cruiser. Morgan joined us as well and we all watched Hoyt rummage around through the trunk; I knew we were all thinking the same thing: that this guy was just another crazy that we had to put up with long enough to get the hell out of here.

After a moment, Hoyt returned with a faded yellow slender cardboard box in his hand; he hoped the box and unrolled a long strip of cellophane. "All right, let's get her wrapped up."

He couldn't be serious. He wasn't really talking about wrapping that poor girl up in the stuff that I had used to wrap my sandwiches in in grade school. Hoyt grinned as he climbed back into the van; the smile disappeared when he turned back around and looked at Andy. "You mind giving me a hand, asshole?"

Andy's face fell. "I am always getting yanked into this shit." He muttered, looking like he was dreading the task more then he let on. I didn't blame him, if I had to get back into the van with that body and touch it, I wouldn't be too happy either. Andy climbed in beside Hoyt, recoiling at the smell. "What am I doing?"

I watched with a concerned look on my face; that psycho Hoyt was supposed to be the sheriff, he was supposed to handle stuff like this on his own. He instructed Andy to lift the girl off the seat and hold her up so that he could wrap the cellophane around her entire body. When Andy lifted the girl up, there was a cracking, sucking sound and I felt my stomach lurch again; I turned away, dry heaving when I saw Andy holding up the girl by her hair, which was barely attached to what was left of her skull. "Pepper? Are you all right?" Andy called from the van. I was too busy dry-heaving to answer.

"Excuse me, can we finish this please?" Hoyt snapped and Andy returned his attention to holding up the girl.

Finally, the corpse was mummified in cellophane, wrapped like a bug in a cocoon in the backseat of the van. Hoyt smiled proudly and got out of the van; I watched him, feeling close to nausea again. I noticed the girl and frowned. "It just seems so wrong." I whispered, hoping that he hadn't heard what I had said.

No such luck; Hoyt whirled around to face him, jabbing a finger in my face. "Look, you've been a pain in my ass since I got here, missy, and I don't need any of your lip. I've got just as much respect for a dead body as anybody else." I backed away from him.

Hoyt turned around and noticed that Andy and Morgan, who he had put in charge of carrying the dead body out of the van to his cruiser, were trying to put the girl in the backseat. "You get that nasty thing out of my car!" He shouted, stalking over to him. Just as much respect huh? "Put it in the trunk."

I watched Andy and Morgan wrestle the girl inside and then slam the trunk lid shut; I was relieved, at least the body was gone. All we had to do was wait until Erin and Kemper returned and we could get the hell out of here for good.

Andy returned to my side and pulled my against him, wrapping his arms around my waist. Hoyt opened the front door to his cruiser and paused before getting inside. "Protect and serve, that's what we do." He gave a salute.

"And that you did, sir." Andy remarked, and I could sense the sarcasm in his voice. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at his words as Hoyt climbed into his car and slammed the door shut behind him.

When the car finally disappeared, I sighed and leaned against Andy. "Thank God." I mumbled.

We stood in silence a moment, not quite sure what to do next. For the moment, there seemed to be nothing to do, besides wait.


	7. The Graveyard

Chapter Seven

The Graveyard

Soon, I got tired of waiting and walked over to the van, peeking cautiously inside; Andy came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Poor Kemper, I mean, he ain't ever gonna get the stink out of this van." He remarked.

"Do you think we should try and clean it for him?" I asked. It just seemed like the right thing to do, after he had picked me up when I was hitching and was driving everyone to Dallas.

Morgan raised an eyebrow. "Be my guest." He grumbled. I glared at him and stepped into the van; the smell of the corpse still hung heavy inside and it slammed into my face as soon as I got inside. I backed up quickly, stepping out of the van and hurrying away, feeling like I was going to throw up again; luckily, there was nothing left to throw up and all I did was dry heave.

"Are you all right?" I hadn't noticed Erin arrive and her voice startled me. I looked up at her, holding my arms across my stomach, still bent over.

"It's too much, I'm gonna be sick." I groaned, but slowly the nausea passed and I sighed. I sat down on the bumper of the van and leaned against the back, shutting my eyes.

Erin looked around, looking confused. "Well, the sheriff's going to be here in about thirty minutes."

Now I was confused; hadn't Erin been the one to call Hoyt and send him up here in the first place? Something was just not right. "The sheriff already came." Andy told her.

"He took the body." I added. Erin peeked inside the van as though checking just to make sure.

Erin seemed somewhat contented with this news; she wanted to get out of here just as much as the rest of us did. "Great, so...where's Kemper?" She asked, looking around again.

"I thought he was with you." Andy said, raising an eyebrow. Had she and Kemper had another lover's quarrel and had Kemper left her all alone? It sure seemed that way.

Erin frowned, looking more worried now then upset. "No. He just disappeared; I figured he had come back here with you guys."

I sighed. Great, now we had another reason to stick around this hell-hole even longer. "Well, where could he have gone?" I questioned. There weren't a whole lot of places he could have gone, especially not with us seeing him.

"I don't know." Erin pursed her lips worriedly. "This isn't like him."

Suddenly, a noise sliced through the relative silence around us, a high pitched, continuously blaring sound. I jumped, startled, and stood up, walking over to the others. "What the hell is that?" Andy questioned.

"It could be Kemper." Erin pointed out, though it was highly doubtful. And I'm sure that she knew that too, put that didn't keep her from hoping. Something had happened to Kemper, we all knew that and I was certain it wasn't something pleasant.

Andy picked up a tire iron and started in the direction of the sound; I hurried after him with Erin in tow. Morgan grumbled something and then headed after us as well. Halfway to the copse of woods that the sound seemed to be emanating from, I realized that the noise was a car horn, being constantly pushed so that it continued to sound.

Andy batted at leafy tree branch and held it aside so that Erin and I didn't get bushwhacked; however, he didn't give Morgan any such courtesy and the branch whacked him in the face. "Andy, you asshole." Morgan grumbled as he retrieved his glasses from where they had been knocked to the ground.

The woods around us were dense, thick with trees, bushes and other foliage, and were much deeper then I had first thought at first glance. My too large cowboy boots twisted up in some of the gnarled roots and I crashed to the ground, a stick jabbing into my side. I felt tears prick my eyes but I blinked them away; I was sick and tired of falling every damn second.

Morgan chuckled. "Gee, Pepper, I think you'd better lay off the pot for a while." He remarked.

I glared at him as I slowly got to my feet, my side smarting where the stick had poked it. Because my halter top had no back, the stick had stabbed right into my skin and drop of blood were starting to drip from the scratch. I looked away. "It's these damn cowboy boots." I informed him. "They're hard to walk in." That only made Morgan laugh even more.

Erin shot him a look and said, "Can we just find Kemper and get the hell out of here?" Morgan muttered something that I couldn't hear but it seemed to appease Erin and we set off again. Andy took my hand and we walked side by side, with me staring down at my feet the entire time to make sure that I wasn't going to trip over anything again. When I had bought the boots -because the people I had gone down to Mexico with had gotten stoned one night and thought it would be the funniest thing in the world to throw my shoes into a very nasty canal- I hadn't really cared that they were too big because I hadn't been planning on hiking through the woods. Next time I bought a pair of shoes, I would consider anything I could possibly be doing later in the day.

The woods finally came to an end, spreading out into a wide field, with a lone tree; but the tree wasn't the only thing in the field. Cars of all shapes, sizes and models were spread across the open space, rusting and falling part, all missing their tires, and some missing more then that.

"Dude...what the hell?" Morgan muttered, looking out at all the cars.

Seeing the abandoned vehicles had sent a chill running along my spine. Where were all the people they had belonged to?

Andy headed toward the car where the sound was coming from; a stick had been positioned to keep the horn sounding and he wrenched it loose, tossing it aside. Silence fell across the field again and it was almost eerie.

Morgan poked around the cars, peering into the busted grille of a van that looked almost just like Kemper's. "This place is weird." I whispered to Erin, who nodded in agreement. "I don't think Kemper's here."

"Why are all of these cars here?" Erin muttered, ignoring what I had said about Kemper. I shrugged, studying them again; it was even stranger that they were all missing tires. I remembered the sign we had passed earlier, the one that had lead to the gas station, advertising BBQ and tires. Maybe it was just some weird coincidence.

Morgan stuck his hand into the grille -what a dumbass- and suddenly, cried out, slamming against the hood of the car. "Help!" He cried. Something inside of that car had grabbed hold of him.

"Morgan!" I shouted, and Erin leapt forward to help him. Before she could do anything, however, Morgan stopped struggling and turned to look at us with a huge smile on his face. Erin wrinkled her face in disgust and whacked Morgan on the shoulder.

"That was not funny." I snapped and Andy looked like he wanted to hit him with the tire iron.

Morgan continued to grin and I saw that he held something in his hands: a glass jar, filled with some sort of amber colored fluid and something else floating inside. "What is that?" I questioned, leaning closer to get a better look.

The other objects inside were photographs, glued together so that they were back to back. My eyes went wide as I realized who the photos were of. "Is that...the girl from our van?" I questioned tentatively.

One picture was just of the girl, smiling and happy, the complete opposite of the way she had seemed in the van earlier today. On the back side was a picture of the girl and her entire family, a little brother and sister, and parents. "And her family." Erin whispered and Morgan set the jar aside.

"What were they all doing here?" I questioned. "And what happened to them?" Though I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that one.

Morgan frowned. "They were probably looking for the sheriff." He remarked. His words seem to ring true; what if they _had _been looking for the sheriff but they hadn't come out of the encounter as well as we had.

Andy sighed and bent down, studying something in the ground; he picked the object up and I squinted my eyes to see what he held. He realized what the object was as soon as I did and tossed it back onto the ground with disgust. "That's somebody's fucking teeth isn't!" I cried, backing up and stumbling into Erin. We both went crashing to the ground and I found myself staring beneath one of the cars; looking right back at me was a round head with glassy eyes. I had already screamed and leapt to my feet again before I realized the head belonged to a doll, not a child.

"That's it, I'm getting the hell out of here! I happen to like my teeth right where they are." I looked at the others to see if they would follow. Erin looked over at me and I knew she was thinking about Kemper. "Find your goddamn boyfriend, Erin, it's time to go."

Erin sighed. "I know he's in that house where we called the sheriff." She muttered, more to herself then to anyone else. Andy nodded and picked up the tire iron again; they started walking away from the collection of cars.

"Where are you going?" I questioned, looking at Andy with wide eyes. He wasn't just going to leave was he?

"To find him." Erin answered, looking at me like I was stupid.

Morgan crossed his arms over his chest. "Where are the keys of the van?" He questioned and Erin pulled them out of the pocket of her jeans. He reached for them and she snatched them out his reach.

I narrowed my eyes; she was just going to leave us with a useless van. What if something came along, whatever had killed that poor girl's family, and we had no way of escaping? "Well, who put you in charge?" I asked, trying to sound as tough as I could. I liked Erin and I didn't particularly want to fight with her.

Erin sighed. "If you guys want to take off, that's fine but I am not leaving without him." She said and put the keys back in her pocket.

I looked at Andy, who met my stare but didn't say anything. "Maybe you shouldn't go." I said to him.

"Don't worry, Pepper, we're just going to find Kemp and then we're going to get the hell out of here." Andy assured me. "Erin and I will be back before you know it."

I wasn't so sure. "Just, be careful." I whispered, so low that I wasn't even sure that he heard what I had said. Andy just smiled and headed off after Erin. I watched them until they were too far away to really see anymore.

Great, now I was all alone with Morgan. I looked over at him and he offered me a crooked smile that suggested that some of the pot he had been smoking earlier was still circulating through his system. Without another word to him, I started back the way we had come, heading back toward the van. Walking through the woods was much better then staying in that car graveyard with only Morgan for company.

Anything was better then Morgan's company.


	8. The Chainsaw

Chapter Eight

The Chainsaw

Shortly after I entered the woods again, I realized that Morgan was following behind me. I didn't pay him any attention as he jogged to catch up, my mind completely on Andy; I couldn't believe he had just left me. But it was more then that, it was something much deeper; I could feel it in my stomach, gnawing away like a hungry rat, a nervous feeling that was slowly working itself upward. Something wasn't right, about any of this and Andy was just walking into the heart of the wrongness.

For a moment, the knowledge that I would never see him again was so strong in my heart that I nearly turned around and jogged after him. _Don't be an idiot! _I snapped to myself. _He's just going to go find Kemper, what could be wrong with that? _I tried to push the thoughts from my head, but my worry for Andy and Erin both (but Andy most of all, what can a girl do?) was still gnawing away.

The thoughts slipped from my head easy enough when Morgan caught up with me and grabbed my hand. I wrinkled my nose at him and pulled my fingers free from his. "What are you doing?" I questioned, looking at him. He a dopey grin on his face that would have looked cute on some guys but only managed to make him look creepy and stoned.

"Just making sure that you didn't fall again." Morgan answered with that grin still on his face.

"Great." I grumbled. "Thanks." I walked a little bit faster. I wasn't looking forward to being stuck alone with Morgan, even for ten minutes. _Or longer, _that little voice in the back of my head reminded, _it's going to be much longer._

The van was in sight again and I jogged the rest of the way, leaving Morgan a few feet behind. I sat down on the metal crate I had been using as a chair earlier and glared at him when he joined me.

"So, is Pepper your real name?" Morgan questioned. I wasn't surprised, someone was bound to raise that issue soon enough; I'd been getting that very same question ever since I started kindergarten.

"Yes." I answered with a sigh. "I was named after my aunt Pepper who died in World War II." The same story every time. Most people were actually interested, but I figured this was Morgan's bizarre, stoned way of trying to hit on me.

Morgan nodded almost thoughtfully. "Interesting." He muttered, though it was really anything but. There was silence, for which I was grateful for; I looked out into the woods again, looking for any signs of Andy and Erin. How long had they been gone? How long would it take to find Kemper?

"So," Morgan started again. "What do you want to do?" What a strange question; he really should lay off the pot.

I rolled my eyes. "Wait for Andy to get back." I answered, making sure he heard the stress I put on Andy's name. "What else is there to do?"

Morgan seemed to be waiting for this question. "Well..." He drawled. "I'm sure we can think of something." He leaned toward me, expecting a kiss and I wrinkled my nose, backing off the crate before he could get any closer.

"Morgan, what the hell are you trying to do?" I asked, crossing my arms over my shoulders and glaring at him. He narrowed his eyes as well and straightened himself, muttering something that I couldn't quite catch. "Just keep your lips to yourself." I added, heading back over to the van.

With the body gone, the smell was finally starting to fade away but flies and other scavenger bugs still buzzed around the van, hopping around on the blood and other parts of the girl's head (which I _did not _want to think about) that was matted to the walls and backseat. Maybe there was something we could do about the car now that the stink wasn't so bad.

"Maybe we should try and clean the van." I called back to Morgan, who was still pouting on the crate. "I'm not looking forward to getting back inside with all that blood around."

Morgan sighed. "You can clean it." He grumbled. I was tired of Morgan being such an asshole; did he always act that like that or just when he didn't get his way.

"Yeah and you're going to help me." I commanded. When he looked at me, I added, "Can you really think of anything better to do?" My eyes dared him to say something else. For the first time in his life I was sure, Morgan did the right thing and remained silent.

I peeked back inside and picked up the rest of the newspaper that hadn't been used to cover the girl's body hours ago. I carried the paper back over to Morgan and dropped it in his lap. "Try and find a river or something to wet that paper with." I suggested.

Morgan glared at me, silently for once, and picked up the paper; I half expected him to toss it back to me but he just stood and headed off in the direction I had traveled earlier. I nodded, satisfied with myself; no one ever listened to the idiot girl named Pepper and it was about time that things started turning around.

But now what was I going to do until he got back? Maybe sending Morgan off wasn't a very good idea; it was starting to get dark and now I was all alone in this creepy mill. Alone... I shuddered, telling myself not think of it that way. At least I was finally going to get some peace and quiet from Morgan and if Andy came back without Erin and Kemper (though it wasn't like I wanted them to be dead or anything) we would finally have some privacy. Besides, it wouldn't take Morgan very long to find a river or something and then get back to the Crawford Mill. I wasn't going to be by myself for very long.

I started whistling to get rid of the silence that seemed to have surrounded the mill; no birds chirped, no insects hummed. I even would have taken Morgan's chatter right about now.

Something scraped against the side of the van and I cried out in surprise, the theme to _The Beverley Hillbillies _(I had thought that was fitting) dying on my lips as I spun around. I listened again, not realizing I was holding my breath until I exhaled sharply when the sound repeated, and this time the van rocked slightly.

"Who's there?" No answer, was I really expecting one? I thought it could that possum again, or maybe even a nice bunny rabbit but those animals wouldn't make a heavy van shake now would they?

The van shook again, slightly this time, I could tell that whatever was causing it to do so was hiding beneath the car. I swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to psyche myself up enough to bend down and see just was under there. "If that's you Morgan," I started, hoping that it was. "You're not funny so quit being an ass."

There was no reply of any kind and the van was still silent. So it wasn't Morgan, he was too stoned to keep from laughing anyway. Okay, here goes, just bend down for a quick look and then run like hell. It probably was just a rabbit or something, those animals grew freakishly big out here after all.

I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped to my knees in front of the van, forcing myself to slowly open my eyes and peek beneath the car. I screamed when two round eyes were peering back at mine; I scrambled backward, trying to get away from the van and whoever was beneath it. I screamed again when I backed into someone. This was it, it was all over for me.

"Pepper!" I knew that voice: Morgan. I balled my fists, pressing my fingers into my palms with so much force that they left crescent shaped marks. Please don't tell me that I had another freak out in front of Morgan, that would just complete the day.

I learned around, sneezing slightly from the dirt that I had kicked up in my scramble and saw that it was indeed Morgan and he looked like he was having the greatest time on Earth laughing at my momentary heart attack. "Gee, a little jumpy?" He remarked. "What the hell is the matter with you girl?"

At least I had an answer this time. "There is someone under the van." I poked toward the car, only to see that little brat Jedidiah crawling out from beneath the van a great big smile on his face.

"Yer fun to scare." He grinned and his words only made Morgan smile even wider. Jedidiah laughed at the look on my face.

I kicked some dust and rocks in his direction. "Get out of here you little jackass." I commanded but that only made Jedidiah laugh even harder. What was it? Pick on Pepper day? I'd had enough; at least when Andy was around I had a little bit of a defender.

Morgan chuckled and dropped the pile of newspaper into my lap as I started to stand up. "There ain't no river around here, Pepper." He said by way of explanation. He winked at Jedidiah and the kid scampered away again.

I glared at them but then returned my attention to Morgan. "You are such an asshole, did everyone ever tell you that?" I snapped, pushing myself to my feet and retrieving the papers.

Morgan grinned and shrugged; now I understood why Erin couldn't stand him. I shoved the paper back at him, making sure I hit him low enough to make it hurt. "Well, I suggest we get started cleaning." I said, smiling at the look of pain that crossed his face. "It's almost dark."

"You can clean." Morgan grunted, gathering together the paper and tossed it into the van. "Your the woman."

"And you're a sexist pig." I retorted. "If we work together, when can have the van clean in half the time." I pointed out, hoping to change the subject.

Morgan sneered. "How very Sunday School." He muttered. I glared at him; I had reached my limit, how much more of Morgan could I possibly take? In a moment of childish (sure, I'll admit it) anger, I stomped on his foot as hard as I could with the heel of my cowboy boot. "You bitch!" Morgan snapped and made as though he was going to slap me in the face.

"What are you going to do?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes. "Hit me? Of course not, you're a sexist pig who doesn't believe in hitting girls." Okay, I was asking for it.

Morgan looked like he really did want to whack me in the face but instead, he just gave me a push, knocking me into the van, something he probably wouldn't have done if he wasn't stoned. My elbow landed in something wet and matted and I shuddered in revulsion, not even wanting to see what I had landed in.

Though the sun had nearly set by now, I could still see the look of almost pleasure on Morgan's face. I jumped out of the van and dove for him, feeling like I was one of those girls in one of those soap operas where all they did was fight and drink. I guess all those fights on the playground were about to pay off. I tackled Morgan and we both crashed into the ground; Morgan seemed shocked that we were actually fighting and, truthfully, so was I; I hadn't actually gotten in a physical fight with anyone since the tenth grade when Becky Sawyer had called me fat and told everybody that I was a lesbian. I had gotten expelled for a whole month for that one.

Morgan was trying to push me off of him when a sound I hadn't heard but once in my life screamed through the growing night air: the squeal of a chainsaw. At the sound, we both froze instantly, we with my hand around his neck and Morgan holding onto my hair and I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest. A chainsaw? What was a chainsaw doing all the way out here?

I sat up, letting go of Morgan and he sat up as well; we both looked in the direction of the sound. The woods that we had come out of earlier started to tremble, as though they feared the thing that was wielding the chainsaw, which was growing closer every second. I felt my breath hitch in my chest; why was that sound getting closer? I knew somewhere deep in my heart exactly why, however, it was coming for us.

As those words flew through my head, I saw that horrible chainsaw for the first time that night and I knew it wasn't going to be last. The blade screamed through the thick net of tangled thorns and branches and they fell away easily, giving way to the hulking monster of a man that held the saw in his arms. I screamed, my throat feeling like it was going raw and Morgan clamped his hand over my mouth; I somehow couldn't stop the scream from escaping my lips as I stared at the man. He didn't have a face! It was impossible but true, that man had no face!

The chainsaw continued to screech as the man turned in our direction and started rushing toward us. Morgan gave me a shove. "Under the van, now!" He commanded and I scrambled beneath the car, my cheeks already wet with hot tears. I was shaking so much I could barely move but somehow I managed to huddle beneath the car, trying to suppress the scream that tried to escape from my lips.

Morgan was beside me in an instant, putting his arms protectively around my shoulders. "Pepper, be quiet." He commanded and I clamped my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming again.

It was difficult, however, when the chainsaw finally was silenced and the large, lumbering legs of the man carrying it suddenly appeared; he was standing directly in front of us. It seemed impossible that he didn't know that we were hiding beneath the car but I wasn't about to look the gift horse in the mouth (what did that saying even mean anyway?) and prayed that he was going to give up and go away.

I continued to shake, stirring up the dust around us that wasn't soaked with sweat and tears; the dust tickled my nose and I knew right away that I was going to sneeze. I started to cry then, even as I sneezed, because I knew that I was going to die. "I don't want to die." I cried even as the chainsaw started up again.

Sparks flew as the blades whirled through the metal undercarriage of the van, churning just inches away from our faces. I screamed, feeling terror so complete that I understood now how people could die from fear. Morgan started pushing me backward and before I knew it, we were backing up, out from behind the van. Once we were out from beneath the car and the whirling blade of the chainsaw, I grabbed onto Morgan as tightly as I could, shaking so much that I was making myself sick.

"Pepper," Morgan forced me to face him. I was dry heaving with fear, unable to see his face through the constant tears in my eyes. I didn't want to die, I was too young to die! I didn't want to die! I didn't want to die! Ididn'twanttodie! "Pepper!" I looked at him. "The road is that way," he gestured, "I want you to run-" The rest of his words were swallowed by the roar of the chainsaw as the man ripped through the back of Kemper's van as he lumbered toward us.

I tore away from Morgan and somehow leapt to my feet, tearing away from the man with the chainsaw. "Pepper!" I heard Morgan shout but didn't much care, nothing was going to stop me now.

The chainsaw buzzed behind my back, I could feel the small breeze that it stirred up like someone breathing right behind me. I screamed as the tiny teeth on the larger blade found the area between my shoulder blades and tore into the skin. White hot flashes of pain streaked across my eyes and I could feel my own blood beginning to poor from the jagged gash. If I hadn't tripped because of my cowboy boots right that minute, the chainsaw would have been able to dig deeper and I wouldn't be tasting the chalky dust that floated into my mouth as soon as I hit the ground. I screamed again as I imagined the chainsaw drilling into my back since I was laying there, with the wind knocked out of me, helpless.

"Hey!" Morgan shouted from behind me. The chainsaw sputtered as the hulking man turned around in his direction. "Hey, get away from her!" A rock bounced against the ground after knocking into the man.

I lifted my head. "No...Morgan." I whispered. Didn't he know that the man was going to kill him now? My back screamed in pain as I rolled over, forcing myself to my feet even as I watched the man swing the chainsaw in Morgan's direction through the tears in my eyes. "Run!" I choked out but it was too late.

The chainsaw dug into Morgan's chest, and his scream died on his lips as quick as it had started; bone, blood and gristle went flying through the air as the blade spun into his stomach and chest. I screamed and threw up again, flashes of pain and terror streaking across my field of vision. I had to run; Morgan had died so that I could run and soon that man was going to be through tearing poor Morgan to pieces.

With the sound of the chainsaw, now tangled with blood and flesh, roaring at my back, I headed into the woods, running on blind panic.

_So, I thought I'd give it a little change from the movie; the story is almost over, so really let me know how you're liking it! _


	9. The Hewitt House

__

I'm glad that everyone liked my little change from the movie; thanks for all the great reviews, keep 'em coming.

Chapter Nine

The Hewitt House

I could still hear the chainsaw ripping behind me and I forced myself to run faster, though I wasn't quite sure that was possible. My legs ached and my breath burned in my throat as I stumbled through the woods, batting aside gnarled branches. My back burned as well, still bleeding from where I nearly been torn up by the chainsaw. I thought of Morgan and tears blurred my eyes; he was dead, he was really dead.

The chainsaw suddenly sputtered and died, the air growing eerily silent; I stopped running abruptly, my breath hitching in my chest. Why had the chainsaw stopped? Did that mean that the psycho -who didn't even look like a man- had finally given up on chasing me? It seemed too good to be true, especially after what he had done to Morgan. Well, I wasn't going to wait around and find out; the sheriff's house was somewhere around here, if I could only find it before the chainsaw found me, then everything would be all right.

I started through the woods again, much slower this time, with my muscles aching and screaming in protest with every step. _Everything will be all right, everything will be all right _I kept telling myself. But would it really?

The air was silent aside from the leaves that crackled beneath my feet and my ragged breathing; somehow the silence was even worse then the ripping chainsaw. That man could be following me and I wouldn't know it; at least when the chainsaw was going I knew exactly where he was.

The woods tapered off slowly and I found myself in the car graveyard once again. It was even worse at night, with the half moon's light illuminating the shattered headlights of the cars and making them wink like eyes. And now I didn't have Andy around to protect me from whatever might be around.

Andy! I hadn't thought about him since the man with the chainsaw had trapped Morgan and I under the van. Where was he now? Was he all right? Had he found help...or had he found the man with the chainsaw? Thinking about Andy made me realize for the first time how alone I really was, how utterly helpless everything seemed. Tears welled in my eyes but I quickly blinked them away; crying right now wouldn't do any good. I had to find the sheriff, I had to get help and I had to see if Andy and the others were all right.

I averted my eyes from the ghostly cars and headed in the direction that Andy and Erin had taken hours earlier. If only I had known then what was going to happen, I would have gone with them. And I would have been nicer to Morgan.

The long, dried grass was still bent where Andy and Erin had walked earlier and it was easy to follow the path they had taken. My legs and back ached with every step I took but there was no possible way I was stopping; every second I wasted was a second that the madman with the chainsaw could use to get closer to me.

I thought about Andy; was he okay? Where was he and why hadn't he come back to the van yet? He and Erin had been gone an awfully long time, after all. What if they had never made it to the sheriff's house? What if the man with the chainsaw had found them first? I shuddered, I didn't want to think about it; Andy had to be okay, I really liked them. And we were all so young, how could this be happening to us?

I sniffed back more tears and tried to let my eyes better adjust to the darkness. It felt like I had been walking forever and I doubted I had even come very far; what if I was just walking around in circles? What if I was walking closer and closer to that chainsaw? I had never felt so utterly lost in my entire life.

A huge shadow loomed up from the darkness in front of me and I had to squint to see what it was; I stared for quite some time until I realized it was a house. A house! With a phone, where I could get help! Maybe it was even the sheriff's house. I started jogging through the grass but stopped because of the gash across my back; I could still feel blood leaking through the split skin and wondered if I was going to need stitches. I hated needles as much as I hated blood.

I left the tall grass and stepped onto gravel which served as the driveway leading up to the house. Soon I would be safe, soon I would find a phone and then maybe I could even find Andy and the others. A crooked, rusted mailbox hung off its post to my right; in the darkness, I could barely read the name spelt out in letters across the top of the weathered box: Hewitt. Well, I hoped the Hewitts had a phone I could use.

Most of the lights were on in the house, which was a great relief; there was somebody home, somebody that could help me. No cars rested in the gravel driveway but that wasn't a big deal; these backwoods people probably still rode horses everywhere. At least if they ever wanted to build their own car, there were plenty of parts to choose from in the car graveyard practically in their backyard.

Thinking of the car graveyard made me stop dead in my tracks. How had all those cars ended up there in the first place? What had happened to the people that used to drive them? Surely whoever lived in this house had heard the cars crash, or whatever had happened to them, yet they just let the vehicles rot there, widely untouched. It didn't seem right, there was something wrong about that; who would let cars pile up in their backyard? And what _had _happened to the people that had once driven them? Surely they wouldn't have left their cars there.

The porch light winked on and I was snapped out of my thoughts; the front door swung open and a plump, old woman with a large gut and a slight humpback peeked out the door. I figured I looked like a complete idiot, standing in their driveway, staring off into space as I thought about car graveyards. I looked over at the woman; she certainly didn't look like a chainsaw wielding maniac. Not that she looked like a friendly grandmother either, but I would take librarian spinster over chainsaw killer any day.

"Who's that out there?" The woman called out and I started in her direction again.

"Ma'am, I really need to use your phone, it's an emergency." I called back, picking up my pace a little despite the pain in my back. "My friend has been killed and my other friends have gone missing and I really need to-"

The old woman stopped me. "Called, ya say?" She repeated. I stepped into the porch light and she squinted her eyes. "Honey, you look like hell run over." She pointed out.

I was sure. "Ma'am, really, this is an emergency. There's some man out there with a chainsaw and he already killed one of my friends and now he's trying to kill me." Thinking about Morgan caused tears to pop into my eyes again and I blinked them away with a sniff. "Please." I wiped a tear off my cheek.

The woman beckoned to me with a friendly smile. "'Course honey, you come right in here." I sniffed, grateful. Everything was going to be all right after all.

The woman led me into the a living room, which stunk of shit and pigs, and I was surprised to see the sheriff sitting on the couch, sipping a beer and glaring at an old man in a wheelchair. I recoiled when I saw that the man had no legs. The woman didn't seem to notice my reaction and pushed me into the living room. "Lookie here," She said and the two men turned in her direction. "Look what I found."

The sheriff leered at me and I could tell that he recognized me. "Well, if it ain't little smart mouth." He sneered, setting his beer aside. "You don't look so hot now." He gave me the once over.

I sniffed. "Please, I really need your help. There's a bad man out there." I stopped before I could say anything else. That was exactly what the hitchhiker had said before she shot herself; a bad man...had that same man killed her family? I burst into tears at the thought of being the only survivor to that horrible chainsaw wielding man; it wasn't possible, Andy couldn't be dead. Not Erin and not Kemper. But Morgan was dead...

The old woman patted my back, on the exact spot where the chainsaw had torn open my skin and I hissed, pulling away from her. "Oh dear, I'm sorry." She said and I turned to look at her. There was something in her face as she said that, a glimmer of sly wickedness that suggested she wasn't sorry at all.

A shiver ran through my body and I took another step away from her. I blinked away my tears. "Can I use your phone?" I asked.

Sheriff Hoyt stood up and came up behind me; I didn't want to turn around, I stared down at the floor. "Who you gonna call?" He questioned and I realized he had a point. He was the sheriff...or he was supposed to be. This whole house was starting to rub me the wrong way, something about it just wasn't right. And it wasn't just the old woman and the sheriff either, it was like the house itself; there was another smell beneath the smell of stale potpourri and pig stench...it was the smell of the slaughterhouse.

I sniffed and finally looked up, turning to face him. Before I could think of an answer, something heavy and solid dropped to the floor from one of the other rooms, echoing throughout the house. I jumped at the noise, whirling in the direction it had come from. "What the hell was that?" I had no idea what could have made a noise like that.

"Don't you worry about that, honey." The old woman assured me and I looked over at her. She had that same strange smile on her face and a look of anticipation flickered in her eyes.

_This isn't right. _Those words kept repeating in my head; tears filled my eyes again and somehow being in this house with these strange people was worse then being chased by a psycho with a chainsaw. I didn't want to be here anymore. I just wanted to be back in Kemper's van with everyone, with Andy, back before we picked up that girl. _This isn't right._

The old man in the wheelchair rolled over to us and peered up at his, his face seeming to be fixed in a permanent scowl. "Why don't you have a seat and Luda May will fix you some tea." He suggested, prodding me with the cane that he carried across his lap and pushing me in the direction of the couch.

I looked at the couch, which was worn and grimy and wrinkled my nose; despite the fact that my feet were still aching and my legs felt like they were made of rubber, I'd rather stand. The legless man, however, didn't agree with my decision to remain standing and pushed me harder with his cane, until I fell onto the ratty cushions of the couch. A flash of pain cut across my eyes and I hissed, squeezing my eyes shut. When was this horrible night going to be over?

"Tea, of course." The woman, Luda May I assumed, nodded and headed in the direction of where I figured the kitchen was. That anticipatory smile never left her face.

More tears leaked past my eyelids and I sniffed, wiping them away and looking at the two men still in the room with me. Sheriff Hoyt was leering at me, making no move to hide the fact that he was staring down my halter top and I shuddered. I just wanted to go home.

I drew my legs up against my chest and rested my chin on my knees, closing my eyes again. How had this happened to me?

Luda May reappeared, her footsteps causing me to open my eyes again, carrying a small china cup filled with what I guessed was tea. "Here you go, darling, hot out of the kettle." She grinned and handed me the cup.

I took the cup but didn't drink from it. "I don't want tea, I want a phone." I snapped, a little harsher then I had intended and Luda May glared at me.

"You young people have no manners." She snarled and Hoyt and the legless man nodded in agreement. "A poor old lady tries to do something nice but I just get spit in the face." I watched her with wide eyes, my hands shaking so much that tea sloshed over the rim of the cup and onto the floor.

Hoyt sneered at me. "I think it's time someone taught her some manners, Momma." His eyes flicked toward Luda May and then back to me another. A little sob escaped my throat at his words and I scooted closer to the end of the couch. With that sneer still on his face, Hoyt started toward me, a malicious light sparkling in his eyes.

Before I could react, he lunged forward and grabbed my thigh, squeezing painfully with his fingers, his nails digging into my skin. I cried out, trying to wrench away from him but twisting only made him hold tighter. He reached forward with his other hand to grab my arm and I threw the rest of the tea in his face. Hoyt recoiled when the still steaming liquid splashed into his face, releasing me and covering his eyes with his hands. Dropping the cup, I rolled off the couch and landed on my hands and knees, my eyes blinded with tears. I had to get out of here.

Hoyt was still howling in pain and Luda May seemed for a moment at a loss of what to do. I used their confusion as my only chance to get away, crawling away from Hoyt and Luda May and toward the door. The old man in wheelchair wheeled in my direction, catching me by surprise and planting his left wheel directly on top of my left hand; I cried out in pain and tried to pull out from under the chair but it was heavier then I had thought and I didn't have the strength left in my body to pull away. With every tug, the heavy, harsh wheels tore skin off my hand until I was bleeding; I started to cry even harder.

Luda May seemed over her confusion. "Thomas Brown Hewitt!" She yelled and I wondered who she was addressing. I was too afraid to know. "You get in here right this second!"

Heavy footsteps sounded on the wooden floor, which creaked beneath the weight of however was coming and I buried my face with the hand that wasn't pinned beneath the wheelchair. This was it, I just knew I was going to die.

The floor squeaked and labored breathing filled my ears, as though whoever had entered the room was trying to breath through a sealed off nose or a mask. I whimpered and tried to curl into a ball on the floor.

"Thomas, this girl needs to be taught some manners." Luda May said to whoever had entered the room. "I think you can handle her." The person she was addressing grunted, sounding more like a pig then a man.

The man in the wheelchair suddenly rolled off my hand and I felt the blood begin rushing back to my fingers. Before I could open my eyes to see what was about to happen to me next, two fat, grimy hands, slick with sweat, grabbed me around my shoulders and hoisted me to my feet without much effort at all. I opened my eyes quickly to see what sort of man could do such a thing and found myself looking straight into the distorted face of the man with the chainsaw, the man that had killed Morgan; this close I could see that it wasn't his face at all. It was like a mask, sewn together from human stick. It wasn't his face! I screamed.

The man (though he didn't really look like a man at all) started squealing as well and Luda May and Sheriff Hoyt started to laugh. I tried to wiggle out of his grip but he tossed me over his shoulder as though I was nothing more then a tiny baby; I continued to scream, trashing against his arms, beating on his shoulders with whatever strength I had left in my body. He paid no attention and carried me out of the living room and down a poorly lit hallway; I started sobbing, my hair hanging over my face, staring down at the floor.

"Please." I cried. "Please let me go." I hadn't expected the man to respond and I wasn't disappointed.

The man turned and I found myself staring at a heavy metal door covered with what looked like scratch marks and a single glass peephole. "No." I whispered, knowing that something even worse was behind that door. The man balanced me easily on his shoulder as he wrapped his fat, thick hands around the edge of the door and threw it back; the door squealed against its track and slammed into the wall.

The stench of death, like the slaughterhouse only much worse, slammed into my face as soon as he opened the door and I felt my stomach roll. Unable to stop myself, I threw up over the man's shoulder, crying even harder. The man squealed, as though in disgust, and lifted me off his shoulder, throwing me down a flight of wooden stairs.

I knocked into a stone wall as I fell, hard enough to see spots and tried to stop myself from falling further. There was no way to stop myself and continued to fall, bouncing head over heels down the wooden steps until I at least came to the bottom, landing in water at least two feet deep. My face went under and I inhaled some of the muddy water before I managed to lift my head, coughing and sputtering, trying to spit out the water I hadn't swallowed. An irony tang remained in my mouth and I retched again when I realized it was blood.

I started crying again, shivering in the water, aching all over. I was going to die down here, in this horrible basement. I was going to die.

Something moved in the water behind me and I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut tightly; whatever was behind me, I didn't want to see it. There was very little sanity left in my mind and I ended to hold onto what was left until I died. Whatever was behind me grew closer, I could hear it sloshing through the water and I started shaking, tears running down my cheeks.

"Pepper?" I lifted my head. I knew that voice...but it couldn't be... I slowly opened my eyes and turned around. I almost didn't believe what I was seeing: Andy was on his hands and knees behind me, soaking wet with a mixture of the basement water and sweat, bleeding from various cuts on his shoulders but seeming to be otherwise okay. My tears starting falling even harder now as I threw my arms around his shoulders and pressed my face against his chest. It was really Andy; he was all right, he wasn't dead.

Andy wrapped his arms around me as well, holding me tightly against him, as though he couldn't believe that I was real either. I couldn't seem to stop crying. "I thought you were dead." I sobbed, still shaking, my body aching from head to toe. But somehow, I didn't feel as scared; Andy wasn't dead, there was hope.

"I thought I was too." Andy muttered, so low that I could barely hear him. I pulled away from him to study his face.

I sniffed. "Where's Erin?" I questioned, wiping my hands across my face to get rid of the sweat and tears. I could tell by the look on Andy's face that I didn't really want to know.

"That son of a bitch with the chainsaw got her." Andy answered. My eyes went wide with sorrow; not Erin, not poor Erin who just wanted to get married and be happy for the rest of her life. I started to cry again and Andy pulled me against his chest again, stroking my hair, in a comforting gesture that did little to comfort me. Erin was dead, Morgan was dead and I was sure that Kemper was dead too. How were Andy and I ever going to escape these murderous psychos? They wanted us dead too.

"Morgan's dead too." I whispered, shivering. "We're going to die, Andy, we're going to die." I cried ever harder at the thought.

Andy shook his head. "No, we're not going to die." He told me and I wondered if he even believed what he was saying. "There's got to be a way out of this basement."

I lifted my head again. I hoped he was right, because I didn't want to die.


	10. Freebird

Chapter Ten

Freebird

Andy stood and then helped me to my feet; I was shivering from a mixture of fear and the cold that seemed to hang in the basement. It just figured that the only place in Texas that was actually cool happened to be the basement of some psycho's house. The water filled my cowboy boots and I wrinkled my nose in disgust; I didn't even want to think about what else was in this water. I bent down, took off my boots and tossed them aside; I'd probably be able to run faster if I didn't have to worry about tripping all of the time.

I squinted my eyes through the dim light and peeked around the basement, trying to find a way out; huge curved metal hooks hung from the ceiling and I didn't even want to think about what used to hang on them. To my left there was a heavy oak desk, cluttered with all sorts of things that I couldn't make out in the darkness; the smell of death and blood was strongest over there.

Andy took my hand and we started through the basement, heading away from the front door and deeper into the cellar. Water dripped from the rusty pipes over head, the only sound in the entire basement aside from our breathing. Soon the ground rose upward and the water was behind us; directly in front us was a rickety, wooden staircase that rose upward, leading to somewhere I couldn't see. I prayed it was the way out.

"Come on." Andy whispered and I didn't need any further prodding.

I started up the staircase, stopping suddenly when I heard the familiar grating a metal against rust and a heavy _boom _echoed through the basement. The door had been opened, someone was coming down here. Andy and I both turned in the direction we had come, frozen, listening to the footsteps that creaked down the rotting staircase.

My breath caught in my throat when the chainsaw screamed to life, tearing through the silence of the basement. I screamed and Andy gave me a push from behind. "Hurry!" He shouted above the roar of the metal. The choking smell of gasoline filled my nose and I knew that the man and his chainsaw were advancing in our direction.

I pulled myself up the stairs, my bare feet slapping against the uneven wood; Andy was right behind me, always exactly a stair behind so we didn't knock into each other. The staircase began to shake and I looked over my shoulder, instantly wishing I hadn't. The man with the chainsaw was driving the blade into the wooden planks behind us, tearing into whatever the saw happened to run into. "Faster!" Andy cried and I saw that the man was swinging the chainsaw under his feet. He was playing with us, having his fun before he killed us. That thought almost made me sick again.

The plank beneath my feet broke and I screamed, my foot going through the stairs; I lost my balance and slammed face first onto the wooden planks in front of me. I felt my nose crunch, breaking from the fall and tears filled my eyes again, waves of pain flashing in front of my eyes. The chainsaw was closer now; we were going to die.

Andy grabbed me around the waist and yanked me to my feet like he had done hours ago back at the Crawford Mill. He didn't waste any time throwing me over his shoulder like the man with the chainsaw had done earlier, heading up the stairs as fast as he could. I could see the man advancing on his, getting closer with every pacing second, not hindered by the chainsaw that he swung in his hands.

With a pig-like squeal, the man lifted the chainsaw and swung the blade inches in front of my face; I screamed as I felt the wind caused by the tiny teeth brush against my face. Next time he swung, he wouldn't miss.

Suddenly, Andy spun around and I found myself facing double wooden doors, locked with a broom handle inserted between the two handles on the door. "Open it!" Andy cried and he took a step closer to the door, and I banged my forehead on the wood.

The chainsaw was so close it seemed like the only thing that existed in the world; the sound filled my ears, so loud that I thought I was going to lose my hearing. And that would be a blessing, I never wanted to hear that shrieking chainsaw ever again.

I grabbed the broom handle and tugged it free from the door, throwing it in the direction of the man with the chainsaw. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the chainsaw whirling through the air, cutting downward, heading straight for Andy and I. I screamed and Andy did too; I pushed open the doors and Andy stumbled backward, tripping over the last stair and both of us hit the ground outside the cellar doors.

I untangled myself from Andy and jumped to my feet, rushing back to the doors and slamming them shut in the same instantly the chainsaw blade punched through the wood, sending sparks and wood chips flying into the air. I screamed and fell backward; the doors bucked and rose when every jerking motion the chainsaw made. They wouldn't hold for long, and I didn't really want to be around when the man was finally able to get through.

Andy stumbled to his feet and grabbed my wrist, yanking me away from the doors. "This way." He commanded, taking off toward the clump of woods that surrounded the back of the Hewitt house. I realized we were running in the opposite direction of the car graveyard, back toward the road and where we had picked up the girl. Once we got to the road we could flag down a car and get the hell out of here! We were almost free, we had almost escaped!

These woods were not as dense as the ones that surrounded the Crawford Mill and led to the car graveyard and soon we had left them behind. I glanced over my shoulder, but there was no sign of the man with the chainsaw; I could, however, hear the chainsaw sputtering and tearing through the doors. The man was free, the doors had been destroyed and now there was nothing between him and us.

I turned back around and saw a dilapidated cabin looming in the distance, standing alone in the middle of the field that we know stood in. "Thank you Jesus." I thought I heard Andy mutter but I wasn't quite sure. But those were my thoughts exactly.

The chainsaw was roaring yards behind us, tearing through the mass of trees that we had left behind. This house was going to provide our only chance to get away from him before making a dash for the road. If he had caught up to us already, then we'd never be able to outrun him in open space.

Andy flung the door open and pushed me inside ahead of him. Rats squeaked and rushed away from the door, heading for the dark eaves in the room. I hated rats, but right now, I think I could learn to live with them. Andy hurried inside and slammed the door shut behind us. "We've got to find somewhere to hide." There was no where in the living room. I hurried down the single hallway in the house with Andy right behind me, heading for the back of the house.

The hallway turned off into another single large room, but this room had two closets at opposite ends: places to hide. Andy ushered me toward the first closet, the smaller of the two and pushed me inside. "I love you." He whispered and gave me a kiss before I could even respond.

He turned to go and I grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me." I pleaded. I didn't want to be left alone, not even if hiding together would give us away. I doubted there was enough space in the closet for both of us, but I didn't want to be alone. "Please."

Andy looked indecisive. The chainsaw roared to life suddenly and I could hear it ripping through the front door; the man had found us again. That seemed to make up Andy's mind; he hurried inside the closet; quietly shutting the door behind him.

I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from breathing out loud; Andy wrapped his arms around my waist and somehow managed to get behind me, with his back pressed up against the wall. I leaned against his chest, my heart beating so rapidly I thought I was going to explode.

The chainsaw was silent now, but I could hear the man's footsteps as he walked down the hallway, the boards creaking beneath him. He was going to find us, I just knew, and we were trapped like rats. The broads creaked again, louder this time, and I could tell he was in the room. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could but tears still managed to squeeze past my eyelids; Andy held onto my hands tightly, his breath frozen in his chest.

For a moment, the world was utterly silence, it was as though time had stopped.

The door was yanked open suddenly and with such force that I thought it was about to be torn right off its hinges. The man's face (it's not really his face!) appeared directly in front of mine and I screamed; there was no where to go, we were trapped. He reached out and grabbed the front of my shirt, hauling me forward with such force that Andy couldn't keep his hold around my waist; I prayed that the straps on the cheap shirt would snap but they didn't. Damn quality workmanship!

I screamed again when the man threw me to the ground; the fall knocked the wind out of my lungs and I remained, stunned, on the ground, unable to move. I groaned when he slammed his foot down onto my back, driving what breath I had left in my body out my mouth and nose.

Above me, the chainsaw started up again and I realized he planned to skewer me, right there, when I didn't even have a fighting chance. I didn't even have the breath to scream and my mouth opened and closed silently, like a fish trying to survive on land. I felt like a fish, helpless, about to be gutted and someone's dinner. I started to cry, shutting my eyes.

There is absolutely no way to prepare for the moment you are going to die; nothing in the world makes sense in the seconds before, not everything you've heard about a better place and being with your grandparents that have already died. My whole life didn't flash in front of my eyes, either. There was nothing but complete, paralyzing fear and the thought that I didn't want to die. The last thing I was going to hear was the chainsaw as it sliced through the air, toward my body.

Before the chainsaw could tear in my back, someone slammed into the man pinning me to the floor with such force that he nearly released his hold on me. He didn't however, and I was still pinned to the floor with his foot crushing my spine; he did, however lose hold on the chainsaw. I opened my eyes in time to see the blade drop, still going, inches away from my face; it spun around across the floor, jerking and hopping closer and closer to my face with every second.

"Andy!" I screamed, trying to wiggle away from the spinning blade but the man's foot kept me rooted to my spot. "Andy!"

Andy yelled as he charged into the psycho with all of his weight; the man's balance was upset and he teetered, his foot losing its hold on my back. I was able to breath again and I quickly jumped to my feet before the chainsaw had the chance to tear into my face. Blinking my tears away, I turned in the direction Andy and the man had stumbled and saw that the man had thrown Andy to the ground.

Ignoring me, the man turned back around, picked up his chainsaw and advanced toward Andy. "No!" I screamed and leapt at the man, digging my fingers into the flesh on his back, trying to distract him from Andy. The man swatted me aside as though I was little more then a pesky gnat and drove the chainsaw downward.

"No!" It was impossible, after all of this, Andy couldn't die. Not now. "Andy!" Andy's scream was cut short when the chainsaw tore into his chest, tearing easily through flesh and muscle and killing him instantly. I screamed wordlessly and buried my face in my hands, feeling as though my heart was being torn out of my chest. Not Andy! Not Andy...

I opened my eyes slowly, almost painfully, unwilling to see what was left of Andy. The man with the chainsaw was still looming over him, driving the blade into the flesh and sinew that was left of Andy and I could tell he was enjoying it. "Stop." I whispered, tears falling down my cheeks. "He's already dead."

The man with the chainsaw turned in my direction, swinging the chainsaw away from Andy and at me. I sniffed, coughing, and stared at him for a minute, frozen by fear and the fact that I didn't really care anymore what happened to me. Andy was dead, why did it matter?

_Andy died for you! _My brain screamed and that was true. _And you're just going sit around and die too? _No, no I wasn't. I was going to get the hell out of here and never, ever come back to Texas again.

I jumped to my feet as the chainsaw roared through the air, heading for my head; instead, the blade found nothing but empty air. I spun around and headed for the single window in the room, my only chance of escape; if I headed for the door then I would give the chainsaw a perfect target.

The window was stuck, the wooden sill around it so warped with water damage that it had molded around the window. That was it, my last chance to get away was a bust. I banged lightly against the glass with my palm but I didn't have the energy to do anything. I didn't have the energy to survive anymore.

I heard the chainsaw screaming behind me, coming for me and suddenly, I had one last idea. Steeling myself, I remained in front of window with my back to the man and his chainsaw, forcing myself not to run, not to turn. I felt the chainsaw whirling behind my back and ducked before the blades could finish what they had started, dropping to my knees and covering my face.

The blade of the chainsaw went crashing to the glass window, shattering it and squealing through the glass; shards went flying in all directions and I winced when one sliced into my shoulder.

The man behind me howled in pain and I lifted my head, glancing behind me; some of the glass had cut into his face and he was squealing like a child, holding his hands over his face. Serves him right, now he knows what it feels like. The chainsaw had once again hit the ground and I leapt to my feet before it could get anywhere near me. I put my hands on the window sill, ignoring the remaining shards of glass that sliced into my palms and boosted myself out the window and onto the ground below.

I didn't even look behind me to see if the man had pulled himself together long enough to follow after me and took off running. My legs ached and with every step I took my back seemed to hurt even more, yet I didn't stop, couldn't stop, running. I was doing to make it, I was going to get away from this place.

I pushed past the gnarled, limp trees that seemed bent on blocking my path and found myself staring at the road. The actual road! I had made it! I fell to my knees, blinking away the tears before they had a chance to fall; I still had to find a ride, a way to get away from here before the chainsaw man could chase after me.

I lifted my head again and peered through the darkness. It seemed too good to be true: headlights coming in my direction, heading the opposite way I had come, heading away from this hellish place. I stumbled to my feet and limped into the middle of the road, waving my hands over my head. "Stop!" I cried, my throat raw and the words barely came out above a whisper. "Please, stop."

The car slammed on its breaks, tires squealing, stopping seconds before it knocked into me. I laid my hands on the hood and whispered "stop" again, feeling as though I couldn't even stand up anymore. The driver's side door was flung open and a young man came rushing out of the car. "Are you all right? Miss?" He said. I turned to look at him.

"Help me." I whispered before everything became black.

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When my eyes fluttered open once more, I found myself staring out the windshield of a car I never been in before with a jacket I had never seen spread across my shoulders. My body ached and I didn't even want to move, for fear of how much worse it would hurt to do.

I moved my head slightly, turning to look at whoever was in the driver's seat. It was the young man that had stopped when I had run into the road. "Where are we?" I croaked and he jumped, turning to look in my direction.

"Thank God you're awake, I was getting really worried." He said and I just blinked. "We're going to the hospital." The hospital, I needed a hospital all right.

I looked away from him again. "What happened to you?" The young man asked and I wasn't even sure how to start. "Were you in a car accident?"

I shook my head but couldn't find the strength or the words to explain what I had just been through. Andy was dead; Erin was dead; Morgan and Kemper were dead and somehow I had survived. There were no words to explain the way I felt at that moment.

The man in the driver's seat seemed comfortable with the fact that I didn't answer and turned his attention back to the road in front of us. The sun was rising and his was the only car driving down the cracked pavement.

I looked out the window, staring at the houses on either side of the road; I was away from that horrible place once and for all. I was safe, I had escaped.

As this thought dawned upon me, I also realized that the car radio was on, playing a song I had heard for the first time hours ago while still safe and happy in the van with Andy and the others. "Freebird", Erin's favorite.

Tears filled my eyes as I listened to the words. "_I'm as free as a bird now; will you still remember me?_..." I sniffed but didn't make any move to wipe the tears off my cheeks.

The road stretched out in front of the car, leading someplace I had never been, someplace where I could get help. I had made it, I had survived. I was free.

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_So, that's the end of the story, I hope that everyone enjoyed it. I'm sorry that Andy had to die, but it just seemed fitting since only one character survived in the actual movie. Thanks for all the reviews I've been getting, tell my what you think about the end. I might, if I have the time, do a sequel but no promises ;) Anyway, thanks again so much for all the reviews, you guys have been so great!_


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